Star Ocean: The Untold Epic
by UncreativeCreatvity
Summary: Space, The Final Frontier, what secrets lie in wait for Fayt and his gang in the Star Ocean? A series of one-shots set after my story Hero's Beginning. Is the threat really over?
1. Newbies

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Ocean

Rating: Teen

A/N: This series is a compilation of one-shots that take place after my story SO: Hero's Beginning, they take place right after HB's last scene. They are meant to set up my next real story, and to clear up and resolve a lot of bugs as a result of my incompetence to research certain things. It was my first fic and I learned a couple things from that, so i hope i wont make the same mistakes this time around. So bare with me, and if you haven't read Hero's Beginning, you should definitely go read it! However, you won't really need to know that story to completely understand these shorts. But, since these stories will be based off my previous fic, you might want to take a look at it...and COMMENT ON IT PLEASE! Thank you :) look forward to a combination of action, politics, comedy, and cheesy romance in the following shorts of this series!

* * *

SD 773 June 24th, North America, Federal City, GRF (Galactic Republic Forces) barracks.

It was dark and quiet in the room, it had two beds, the clock on the cabinet to the side read 3:00 AM. The lights suddenly flickered on as a man walked into the room.

"Attention!" the man yelled. He seemed to be a ranking official, with a beige military uniform and hat on. The colorful badges signified that he had the rank 'Corporal'. The two figures in the room lying down on their beds, stood up straight. Their faces were completely void of emotion.

"Sir yes sir!" both of the figures barked in reply, they were both males in their late teens. Both seemed to be about nineteen years of age.

"Cadet Kenny, Cadet Maverick, your unit has been ordered to the front lines, you recruits are about to get a rude awakening. Get your gear ready and report to the shuttle bay at 05:00 hours with the rest of your unit. The two boys nodded and the man exited the room, probably to harass the next pair of unsuspecting cadets.

The boys fell back to their beds and sighed. "Man Tom can you believe they are shipping us out already?" the boy with long red and messy hair asked.

"I know it's crazy Eric," replied the boy, Thomas Kenny.

"I guess you have to live up to your family name don't you?" Eric replied.

"Ugh don't even remind me, how about you? Cadet _Maverick_, you have a name to live up to as well!"

Eric Maverick and Thomas Kenny, descendants of the great Maverick and Kenny families, synonymous with the very name of space exploration. Their very names carry greatness, but these two kids are just two normal teens. Eric is a bit of a bum but Thomas is very much the hard worker. Both boys are full of potential, but both are a bit rebellious and love to piss off their parents. As a result they never achieve their full potential.

Eric grabbed all of his belongings and stuffed it into his bag. Eric had red messy hair, with blue eyes and possessed a slim yet athletic build. Tom had brown hair, and green eyes and a very stern and serious looking face; he was a big lad, very athletically built. Eric merely scoffed as he thought of his great, great, great, a million times over great grandfather, the 'father' of space exploration: Edge Maverick.

Tom had a similar background, descendant from Lightspeed Kenny, Captain Ronyx J. Kenny, and who could forget Claude C. Kenny, great heroes of their time. But here he was, Cadet Kenny. His father constantly reminds him how his ancestors were Captains by the age of 18, or had achieved something or another. And who could forget his_ saintly_ brother Alistair Kenny, commander of the 8th fleet. Tom never seemed to be able to live up to his family's expectations.

The two boys lazily exited the room, Eric ran back and grabbed his reflective aviator shades and slid them on. Tom chuckled and shook his head, and the two continued on their way to the shuttle dock to join their company. The Republic Transport lay waiting in front of them, and the two boys hurried on board.

After they had settled into their rooms they reported to the main audience chamber of the ship, they settled into chairs farthest from the front, as they always did. Eric got comfortable in his chair and he slid forward in his chair until he got to a desired position, it reflected his extremely laid-back personality and lifestyle.

A big blond-haired man, with black lines that wrapped around his neck, probably a tattoo, walked to the front of the room and he greeted them all. He wasn't the usual GRF officer, but he had a commanding presence. Instead of wearing the usual beige uniform he wore a blue combat suit, that hugged his body, accentuating his muscles. The colorful badges on his chest signified he had the highest rank of Supreme General Commander.

"Evening troops, men. Welcome to Hell," the man said seriously, in a big and booming voice. He kept his face rigid and stern but he suddenly broke out into laughter, "Haha just kidding, but in all seriousness this is real war. This isn't just some battle simulator or your latest RPG video game. You all have to watch your asses out there, watch each other."

"Anyways on to your mission debriefing. You all are being dispatched to the frontlines, the Rylar System. Commander Leingod is requesting more troops and you all are the only ones we can spare right now. Your first mission will be on Planet Rylen VI, the Rylenians are a humanoid species. They have human bodies but have demonic wings attached to their backs. They are deadly warriors. Again I tell you guys to watch yourselves, the first mission is always the most dangerous. I assure you, that you should all be safe, Commander Leingod hates seeing his men getting licked, he will cover your asses to be sure. I know him on a personal basis, he is one hell of a fighter, you guys should consider yourselves lucky. Alright enough talk; you guys are dismissed, good luck men."

The blond man walked off the stage and had a grim smile on his face. _I'm really not cut out for this stuff_, the man thought. A woman walked up to the man behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Mr. Fittir you have lunch with Council Head Koas at 12."

"Ahh, tell her I'll be there at 12:30," he replied with a bemused grin on his face.

* * *

A man in a small room was yelling in agony at a raucous pitch for 5 minutes straight, he suddenly stopped yelling with a huge sigh of relief. Fayt Leingod, defender of the universe, was taking a quick bathroom break; Fayt let out another 'whoop' and opened his newspaper.

"Paging Commander Leingod, Commander Leingod, please get off your ass and report to the command bridge!" the PA rang out, yelling bitterly.

Fayt chuckled, recognizing Maria's voice as he pulled up his pants and put on his blue PJs that were hanging on the bathroom wall. Fayt whistled a tune as he causally strolled to the bridge, wearing pink fuzzy slippers. The bridge door of the _Justice Avenger_ slid open, and everyone on the bridge stood up to acknowledge him, except for Albel, Nel and Maria who just turned in their seats and laughed at his attire.

"Commander Maggot, may First Officer Nox inquire why his Commanding Officer is wearing such a stupid attire?" Albel asked from his chair, where he was comfortably stretched upon.

"Well Mr. Nox th-," Fayt began with a dumb grin on his face but Maria cut him off. She swiveled in the captain's chair and got up and seductively walked towards him, swaying her hips.

"Honey? Why are you dressed like a dumbass?" she asked sweetly as she gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"Please people, these are all valid questions, however, I have no valid or logical explanation for this," the good commander replied.

The entire bridge stopped what they were doing and looked at Fayt in his slippers and the entire bridge erupted into laughter.

"On a more serious note, why was I rudely interrupted during my very erm-important meeting with um.." Fayt trailed off wondering how lame he sounded.

"Bullshit, you were on your shithole again weren't you?" Albel asked with a wide grin on his face.

"NO!" Fayt roared, his face going scarlet red.

Fayt slightly coughed and opened the file on his computer screen that Maria pointed out to him. "Ah yes the incoming recruits, Hmm this is interesting, Cadet Kenny…Cadet Maverick?"

"Yes I said the same thing, it just piqued my interest."

"Nice, keep tabs on them for me, assign them to Albel's group, I think it will be funny to see how those two react to Albel's…attitude."

"What attitude maggot?"

"Um that attitude Captain Sunshine," Nel sniggered from across the bridge.

Albel barked something in reply, Nel stood up, and they got into one of their 'fights' again. Fayt hummed under his breath as he finished assigning the newbies to their squads and ships. "When are they due in?" Fayt asked.

"They've just arrived," Maria replied. Fayt got up and made for the door.

"Alright good, I want them battle ready in 3 hours time we are going ahead as scheduled. Besides I need to change my shoes, chop chop, Albel I want you to go greet the fresh meat."

"What," Albel simply replied. He gave Fayt his usual deathstare and his 'you gotta be kiddin me' stare. Fayt simply laughed and walked out the door.

* * *

"Maverick, Eric," Albel said lazily as he read names off a list of all the soldiers assigned to the _Justice Avenger_. "Kenny, Thomas; uhhh Kawasaki, Brian. Saionji, Eva." Eric quickly glanced down the line as he heard the last name called.

"Sir, are you telling me they actually accept female recruits?" Eric asked.

Albel turned around and raised his eyebrow to stare at his next victim. "Who gave you orders to speak maggot?"

Eric was oblivious to Albel's question and said, "Well I was just asking sir, I mean she is probably the first female I have seen on this _glorious_ trip."

Albel was astounded that this kid was speaking back to him. Albel opened his mouth and said, "You're a real smartass aren't you?" A girl with long black hair and brown eyes stepped out of line and raised her hand. "Yes," Albel asked, looking as if he was ready to murder the next person to talk to him.

"Permission to speak sir?"

"Granted Miss Saionji," Albel replied with a smirk on his face.

"May I reply to Mr. Maverick's comment?" the girl asked.

"Certainly," Albel replied and he let her walk over.

She walked up to Eric and gave him a small smile. Eric grimaced, looking at her body, as if checking her out. He thought to himself, _Hmm not bad… _Suddenly she flipped him over, flat on his back. She gave him a pat on his back and said, "Nice to meet you Mr. Maverick." She cheerfully walked back into line, and Albel gave her a short clap.

"To answer your question Mr. Maverick, yes they do, in fact one of your highest ranked superiors is a female and she is scarryyy. I wouldn't cross her you maggot," Albel said grimly.

"Now if anyone else has anything to say…nothing? Well good. Trainees, welcome to the GRF XFS-1234568 _Justice Avenger_, part of the 7th Fleet. My name is Captain Albel Nox. Now this isn't camp for babies you maggots, this is real cold-blooded action. If you die you die, if you don't pay attention or follow directions, you die, and your comrades die with you. You have to be strong, alert, all that other bullshit. I expect only half of you will survive your first mission, sorry to say it, but that's the truth. Combat has a way of weeding out the weak, so that only the strong survive," he stopped. "Erm-Mr. Maverick do you plan on getting up any time soon?"

"Wha-Uh Sir!" Eric replied and quickly got up.

"You lot were assigned to me and it is my duty and responsibility to see you guys through the heat of combat. As long as you maggots follow my directions exactly, you'll be fine. You all are serving directly under Commander Leingod, so we expect the best from you guys," Albel paused once more to look at his watch. "With that said, the equipment rooms are down the hall and to the left and I expect you maggots to report to the hangar bay, ready for battle in about 2 hours."

"You're just sending us into battle sir?" one of the recruits asked.

"What is this, fear already?" Albel asked.

"N-No sir!"

"What's your name maggot?"

"K-Kawashima sir!"

"Well Cadet Kawashima, grow a pair and suit up, like I said, this ain't Camp Sunshine."

"That Captain Nox is something, huh Tom?" Eric asked as he put on some armor. Then he walked over and strapped a laser weapon to his belt and a standard issue battle rifle.

"I guess," as Tom did the same. Eva Saionji walked past them as she put some armor on. Eric whistled as she stripped her military uniform and put on the armor and picked up a foldable bow and a sniper rifle.

"Miss Saionji, I do believe we got off on the wrong foot. My name is Eric Maverick and this is my friend, Tom Kenny," Eric said as he offered her a hand.

She turned around stingily and gave them a short smile, "Pleasure," she said quickly and walked away.

"Hoho, she is a feisty one, that Eva, what do you think Tom?"

"I think you should get your over-sized head out of the gutter and we should hurry our asses to the hangar bay, which, by the way we have to find still."

Eric snorted and they exited the room. They found the hangar bay and their transport, and saw Captain Nox with two Japanese looking katanas and a disrupter shotgun hung at his waist. "Are you from Earth sir?"

"No, you maggot, I'm from Elicoor, now park your ass so this transport can get the hell out of here," Albel said nastily. At that moment everyone pressed their noses against the glass of the windows, Eric tried to catch a glimpse of the commotion. He soon located the source of the hubbub.

Two blue headed figures, and one red headed figure walked across the hangar bay to enter a gunship on the opposite side.

_So that's Fayt Leingod, hell he can't be any older than me, hmm that girl next to him is something too, maybe that's his sister. He does have an air of impressiveness about him._

Eric looked for Tom, who had his nose pressed against one of the windows as well. Tom looked pretty excited. "Imagine if we get to serve and fight with him!"

"I know! It'd be a great honor…I guess," Eric thought.

"Don't count on it maggots, Leingod only takes the best, I usually fly with him, but he personally selected me to hold you babies' hands."

Eric scoffed and sat back in his seat as the transport took off. As the transport landed on Rylen, he noticed that the planet had a very lush environment, very much like Earth's. As he exited the transport the air was hot and humid, it felt like a no man's land. Albel got off and looked around until he found Fayt walking towards him.

"Albel! Hey, I see you've taken to your assignment. Right so I want you to take your unit and scout ahead as we set up base here. Its thick forest ahead and I am sure there are traps lying in wait for us, so I want you to go ahead and scout it out. Take one of the tanks with you just in case."

"Right, have fun playing house here maggot," he replied and returned to his unit. "All right, the Commander has assigned us to scout the forward area for any traps and such. I need three of you to commandeer one of the tanks. All right move!" he ordered.

His troops were soon assembled and they headed off for the thick rain forest ahead. Many of the soldiers took out their laser weapons, using them like machetes, as they hacked through the forest. The sounds of the various animals were heard throughout the forest as they trekked forward.

One of the soldiers decided to sit against a giant rock positioned randomly between two gigantic trees. It was none other than Eric Maverick. "Come on Eric, we'll be left behind!" Tom called from up ahead.

"Yeah, yeah!" Eric shouted back. He was about to move when he suddenly felt the rock move. "What the!" he yelled and he was thrown into the bushes. The rock was actually a gigantic hermit crab-like monster. It began to thrash around and it attacked the unsuspecting soldiers.

Their screams were heard, and Albel suddenly turned around to see the monster ripping apart his entire unit. "Fucking shit man…" Albel sighed as he quickly jumped out of the way as the monster swung its massive claw at the space where he was previously standing. "Supressive fire!" he yelled at his men, but they were all too afraid to shoot at it.

"Shoot at the bloody thing god damn it!" Albel yelled as he brandished one of his handsomely polished steel blades, and leapt at the monster. The men rooted to the spot were soon crushed by the monster crab's claws. The remaining soldiers suddenly realized they had to kill or be killed and they began to fire at the monster.

Eric suddenly came to and shook his head, as his eyes adjusted and slid back into focus. "Shit what the hell is that thing!" he quickly pulled out his rifle and fired a couple of rounds at the monster. The monster yelled and wheeled around and it ran towards him. Eric fired at it in vain, and he was thrown into the air again by the monster, his battle rifle broken into a million pieces. He fell hard on his back and screamed in anguish.

Albel looked ahead to see the sucker cornered by the monster, "MAVVERICKK! I'm gonna kill yo ass!" he growled furiously. Albel dashed at the monster, his arm with the gauntlet began to glow and he yelled "Dragon Roar!" As he slashed at the monster, a red energy dragon bit into the shell of the monster.

The monster staggered backwards as the shell was stripped from its owner, and revealed a very bony and grotesque looking crab-like monster. Albel landed and ran at the monster again, the beast growled and tried to attack him, but he was quicker on the draw, and in a flash he severed one of the beast's claws. Albel landed but the monster caught him off guard and knocked him into the nearby fauna.

The monster rounded on Eric again, it stampeded toward him, but Eric heard a loud shout of "Crescent Moon!" and an arrow struck the monster in the eye and blasted it backwards. Eric peered over his shoulder and saw Eva Saionji with a very haughty and humored smile etched wide across her face. Eric gave her a weak smile, but stood up again as he saw the monster jump into the air, and it froze him and for some reason he couldn't move his legs. It was as if his legs were encased in dense cinder blocks.

Eva's expression immediately morphed into one of utter terror and scrambled to notch another arrow. Eric thought he was a goner and had said his last prayers as a shadow leaped in front of him, and he felt his savior's thick blood slap his face.

"You always were as s-slow, as a r-rock," his savior gasped. It was Tom, Tom had jumped in front of the crab's attack, and he had managed to jam his laser sword up the beast's throat area. However, the crab's claw had managed to rip Tom's right arm off.

"T-Tom, you idiot why, why did you jump?"

"To save your life of course," he slowly managed.

"I…Well…" Eric was completely at a loss for words.

Tom grimaced, "Hey don't worry it's going to take more than this to k-kill me."

Eva jumped over and examined the damage, "You guys, oh shit…" she whispered under her breath as she saw Tom's arm. "I-I'll go roundup the rest of the unit and find a medic, and I'll have to find Captain Nox."

Eric nodded, "Some Captain he turned out to be eh? He wasn't even around to protect us!" he laughed weakly. Tom grimaced in return but yelled again when he heard the monster behind them stir again. Eric yelled, and suddenly a bright crest burned like a lamplight on his fist, but before Eric could act a shadow jumped up on the monster's back.

"What was that comment about me maggot?" Albel asked menacingly as he blew the monsters brains to kingdom come with his shotgun and severed its head off with his katanas in one fell swipe.

"N-Nothing sir, I said how great, powerful, and mighty you are!" Eric cried as he got down on his knees, as if begging for forgiveness.

"Off your knees maggot, we're still in a war zone, we could be attacked at any time, we're in a vulnerable enough position anyways. Miss Saionji good work, you really kept your head in this situation. Cadet Kenny, good work rescuing your maggot friend. Cadet Maverick, consider yourself lucky that your friend wasn't killed for your good for nothing, lazy ass!"

Eva and Tom nodded. "I am promoting you two to Staff Sargeants, Miss Saionji, due to Staff Sargeant Kenny's condition round up these maggots and make sure they haven't completely lost their wits."

As Eva turned to leave Albel held Eric up, and told Tom to leave. "Maggot, you really were a lucky sucker this time."

"Yes sir-,"Eric stammered, but Albel cut him off.

"However, you didn't die so I guess you have some moral fiber, may I ask what that glowing crest was on your fist?"

"Sir? I'm afraid I don't know what you are talking about."

"Maggot, are you saying I'm hallucinating?"

"N-No sir, but, maybe it was a trick of the light or some-," he replied weakly.

"You think I can be easily fooled like that?" Albel spat.

Eric shook his head, and Albel was about to rant at him further but he heard a scream in the distance and he looked to the treetops and it seemed as if bats were raining down upon them. Except they weren't bats, they had humanoid bodies.

"Shitfuck! Get to cover Maverick, on your ass maggot!" Albel yelled as he pulled Eric behind a tree. Albel pulled out his communicator and yelled into it, "Status report Staff Sargeant Saionji!"

"Sir, the Rylenians have made contact with us and are causing chaos among our unit, they're tearing us apart!"

"Damn it, Saionji where are you? Is the tank still intact?"

"Negative sir, I am taking cover by the tank along with the majority of our unit, we are trying to cover the retreat of our fellow troops."

"Good! I will try and regroup with you by the tank, direct all forces to the tank. Is Kenny with you?"

"Yes sir! Any more orders sir?"

"Yes you maggots are in charge there until Maverick and I can link back up with you guys, also see if you can get a distress message back to camp from the tank."

"Copy sir, good luck."

Albel swore again and pocketed his communicator he looked at Eric who looked like he was about to piss or shit in his pants, possibly both.

"Alright maggot remember your training, what weapons do you have on you?"

"J-Just my laser weapon sir."

"Alright well have you had any sword training?"

"W-Well I have played a few video games like Final Fantasy 600," he replied lamely.

"Alright well imagine this is a video game except if you die, there is no fucking restart," Albel yelled at him. Eric shrugged and switched the laser weapon on, and assumed the form of an energy sword.

Albel peered ahead, and about 110 km of trees and deadly hostiles separated them from the main troop. "Alright move fool!" he yelled furiously at Eric. The two tore across the forest at a dead sprint. They were soon engaged by Three Rylenian soldiers, they had battle armor on and demonic wings, and had long lances that shot lasers from the end.

The men furiously began to shoot at them, and Albel jumped up to avoid the shots. Eric, who wasn't as quick, attempted to deflect the laser bolts. He successfully deflected a volley, but yelled in anguish as a couple bolts struck him. Albel sighed, but noticed a quick flicker of light on Maverick's fist.

Albel thought maybe it really was a trick of the light, but didn't have time to regard it. As his feet touched the ground he dashed at the soldier closest to him and brandished his blades in a flash. The soldier attempted to stab Albel with his lance, but Albel cut the end of the lance then yelled, "Palm of Destruction!" and he slammed his claw into the soldier's face.

Eric watched Albel, mystified, it was literally poetry in motion, in death-form. Eric suddenly felt inspired and charged the first enemy. He shot two more bolts at Eric, and winced, but his armor was able to absorb the energy blasts. He swung his laser-sword clumsily at the soldier's head, but the soldier parried with the body of his lance and the sword glanced off it.

Eric gasped in surprise, and the soldier stabbed at him, catching him on the side. Eric coughed up some blood and tried to raise his weapon but the soldier stabbed him in the shoulder and Eric fell backwards.

_Shit this is the end…_Eric closed his eyes, but in that instant, with his eyes shut, light seemed to glimmer, a faint light. A light at the end of the tunnel almost, it was getting closer. The light turned into the figure of a person with body armor and blond hair.

The figure got closer and closer, and stopped within two feet of him. "Hey come on, it's not your time yet, there is a whole galaxy waiting for you to explore and fulfill your dreams."

Eric opened his eyes, his right hand was glowing, a white symbol etched on his fist was burning white hot. Eric suddenly felt powerful; a warm sensation was gripping his body. He jumped up and faced his enemy with renewed determination. He grinned arrogantly and held his sword loosely at his side in a confident stance.

"Bring it on!" he yelled. The man ran at him, but this time he seemed a lot slower, Eric dodged slightly, playing with his enemy, using his new found strength. He sidestepped the next attack and found himself behind his enemy.

"Never turn your back on your enemy! Rising blade!" he yelled and unleashed a fury of strikes and he cut down his enemy. He grinned triumphantly and the crest on his fist disappeared. His smirk suddenly faded as he fell to the ground, hit by the laser bolt of the other soldier.

The soldier prepared to deliver the final blow, but his body was sliced into two, the blood squirted everywhere, and Albel's grinning face could be seen through the gap formed by the severed appendages. "Never ever let _**your**_ guard down maggot." Albel sheathed his blades and helped Eric get onto his feet.

Eric looked at him, a shade red, and said, "Thanks sir."

Albel looked at him simply and said, "You'll do." They continued forward and battled through waves of soldiers. They soon saw the remains of their troop fighting by the downed tank, they saw Eva frantically shooting arrow after arrow to keep the enemy at bay.

They saw a soldier creep up behind her, but she twirled around, jumped up and wrapped her legs around him and in one fluid movement, she cracked his neck, heaving her hips.

"She is a feisty one," Eric whispered, Albel laughed silently under his breath but gasped when a huge blast came from behind them. Albel turned his neck and saw a Rylenian tank with fresh reinforcements approaching them.

"Shit, Maverick move your ass towards the tank, let's go!" They ran towards the tank and saw Tom on the ground by a tree, being attended to by a medic, and 20 or so troops taking cover in the surrounding area.

Eva saw them and ran towards them. "Captain! Good to see you in one piece."

"Likewise, I can't say the same for the rest of these maggots," as he gestured to the wounded and dead soldiers alike.

"Were you able to contact HQ!" he yelled as another blast shook up dirt and uprooted trees.

"Not exactly sir!"

"What do you mean not exactly!" Eric cried.

"Well we heard them talking to us, but I'm not sure if they got our coordinates, the module was destroyed a second later as a stray blast hit it."

"Damn, that means we're alone out here," Albel said grimly.

"Sir! What are we going to do, we need a plan!" Eva yelled.

"I know woman, I know, don't you see I'm thinking!" Albel yelled furiously. Eva was suddenly silent, not even taking offense to the 'woman' comment.

_We need to take down the tank…Heh we're going to have to play a little dirty._

"Saionji order one of the soldiers to raise a white flag, let's see if they engage in such pleasantries on this planet."

"Sir?"

"Just do it, before they make Swiss cheese out of us!" Eric yelled at her desperately. Eva looked as if she was about to protest but wisely shut her mouth and did as she was told. As Cadet Kawasaki raised the white flag, the fire suddenly stopped.

"Sir they are sending a small contingent of forces over, what now?" Saionji asked.

"Good, you see in the old days on Earth, a white flag signaled a retreat, I read it in an old history book Fayt, that is Commander Leingod, left on the bridge once. The book was called _The Art of War, _Revised Edition," Albel explained.

"What! We just surrendered! What kind of Captain are you? I was just beginning to gain respect for you!" Eric cried.

"SHH!" Eva hissed.

"Thank you. Ok here's the plan, Tom you are going to say that you are the CO of the troop…"

* * *

"You think this is really going to work?" Eva asked Albel.

"I sure hope it does, hell it _has_ to work," he replied sarcastically.

"It's not going to work," Eric groaned.

"Shut up!" Eva yelled.

"I will not you bitch, no woman is the master of Eric Maverick."

"That is the most sexist thing I have ever heard, no wonder Great Granny Reimi dumped that Edge Maverick's ass."

"Whaatt are you saying you are related to that old nag?"

"NAG!"

"And for one thing, Pappy Edge dumped _her. _He decided he needed a _real_ woman and he went for Granny Myuria."

"That _WHORE! _Oh I've heard so many stories about that tramp. Always flashing her chest at every male she sees, goodness!"

"Just because my great great great grandpa wanted a good and respectable woman over that educated-nonsense-," Eric hissed, but was cut off.

"Educated nonsense! It seems the type of women your kind like are stereotypical, shameless, filthy, cheap, and slutty BIMBOS!"

"Sluts! I think not-," Eric began but was cut off again.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU TWO. Can you two fools drop it for one god damn second and let us focus on the task at hand! Look more of the enemy troops are leaving the main force and moving towards our camp. That's our cue, let's go."

The two grunted and remained silent all the way to the enemy's main camp. They reached a spot of cover a good distance from the camp, which gave them a good view of it.

"I count 40 troops, 5 tanks, and 10 mounted turrets, 20 of the troops are regular foot soldiers, 10 are on hover-bikes, and 15 are equipped with plasma RPGs. How about you Saionji, Maggot?" Albel observed.

"Sir I counted just about the same I also noticed a group of sentinels less than 5 km from our position to the right. I am assuming they are a sentinel group," Eva replied.

"I uh counted about the same-Wait hold on why am I still the maggot?" Eric asked, dumbfounded.

"1, because you piss the hell out of me, and 2 you weren't even able to give me a simple assessment of the situation. How the hell did you pass the academy tests?" Albel said sarcastically.

"Well…" Eric said with a dumb grin on his face. He vividly remembered the curly haired brunette test proctor, and a tight broom closet.. "Let's just say that I am well endowed in certain areas."

The three were silent and Eva slightly blinked and looked through her binoculars. "You fucked that slutbag for an Academy Proctor Jessica didn't you," she said simply.

"Well…" Eric said, with a slight tinge of red to his face. "In any case I did spot something that you two didn't, I spotted a tent and two soldiers that are not Rylenian soldiers. They are dressed in black armor and have guns of make that I've never seen before."

Albel slowly turned his head towards him, looking at him like a madman. "That's impossible, hand me those binoculars maggot," Albel said. Albel snatched them furiously out of Eric's hands, and Eric gave him a quick scowl. Albel peered through the binoculars, "Those fools are 4D soldiers…"

"What sir? I am unfamiliar with the '4D' system," Eva inquired.

"It's not a system, it's a long story, in a nutshell, it's bad news if they are here, and frankly they shouldn't be here."

Eric looked at Albel, his face was stoic and rigid. _Damn he seems really worried; they must be bad if they unsettle Captain Nox._

"Alright, what's the game plan then boss?" Eric asked determinedly.

"Well, we follow the original plan, and see how things turn out," Albel replied grimly. The other two nodded and the three slowly set out. They cautiously watched the three-man sentinel group. Albel nodded and crept up behind them slowly, he drew one of his blades halfway out of its sheath, took a step that placed him a foot away from the nearest soldier, then he gave him a quick stab in the back.

The soldier fell sideways, but Albel caught his fall. At that same exact moment Eva notched an arrow, held her bow steady, and loosed the projectile and it soared towards the soldier's head. It impaled the soldier and with a violent jerk of his body, he fell to the ground. Before the soldier had fallen to the ground, Eric jumped from a tree above the soldier, landed on his shoulders, wrestled him to the ground, and locked him in a half-nelson, constricting the soldier's air passage.

Eric held him in that position for a while, the soldier struggling the whole time. Eric gave him a couple good knees in the side to try and hurt the soldier but the soldier was able to wriggle an arm free and wrench a dagger from a leather strap on his leg. The man dangerously dug the dagger into Eric's leg, Eric almost screamed out but Albel covered his mouth. The man continued to struggle in vain until he stopped moving and died.

Eric shot Albel a dirty look, as he pulled the dagger out of his leg. Albel put a finger to his lips, and Eric didn't protest any further. They continued to the edge of the camp, remaining out of sight.

"Right, so the success of this operation will depend on us seizing control of those tanks, got it maggots?" he asked, glancing at the pair of them. They both nodded simultaneously and said, "Remember stealth is key, remember your training."

"Yeah Eva," Eric mumbled. Eva scowled at him and punched him hard on the arm.

"I was talking to you maggot," Albel said, giving him a death stare. Eric sarcastically scoffed, and received a kick in the shins from Albel.

The three dispersed and they each slowly made their way to the tanks. Albel had to sneak past 5 soldiers who were slacking off.

"Hey Azial, do you like boobs?"

"Of course I like boobs you fool. What man doesn't like boobs?"

"Ass guys, or like gay faggots."

"Hmm true, good call Versx."

"What about Faliy? Do you like tits?"

"Nah I'm more of a legs type of guy. I let my woman wrap her long beauties around my-," the other soldier cut him off.

"Wha-What the, who's manning that tank?" the others looked over and didn't heed him, but their idle chatter was soon replaced with screams of terror as a blast from the tank blew the group to smithereens.

"Horny-ass fools," Albel growled, he laughed in excitement as he heard two more explosions off in the distance. "Time to have some fun," Albel whispered under his breath. He began to fire at everything in sight, firing everything the tank had, he shot at the other still immobile tanks, and laughed as the lax soldiers scrambled to get their weapons and retaliate. He felt his communicator buzzing, and patched the call to the tank's system mainframe.

"Captain Nox! We have successfully captured all enemy forces that came to our camp," Thomas Kenny said enthusiastically through the line.

"Good work maggot, bring the rest of our troop to the main camp, and let's finish these bastards."

"Oh sir, Commander Leingod was able to contact one of our troops via communicator, he is sending reinforcements."

"Good, hopefully the bastard himself gets his ass over here; I could sure use his help."

"Copy sir, over and out."

Albel smiled and got back to his 'noble' work as he blasted two more soldiers that had the misfortune to run in front of the Wicked's line of fire. They screamed, as they were blasted into the air. He opened his front pocket and took out a cigar, and continued to jab at the firing controls like a madman. He lit the end, by rubbing his claws together producing a bright spark.

He spotted another tank roll in front of him, and quickly maneuvered the tank to face the other tank and was about to fire when a loud, "Stoppp!" rang through the tank's cockpit.

Eric's face popped up on the main screen, he looked really agitated, Eva was cramped behind him in the back. "Hmmm that puts a new twist on the phrase 'get a room' you maggots."

"Wha-! No, I'd never even think of having relations with this nag," Eric exclaimed. He replaced his agitated glare with a haughty smile. "I actually rescued her ass. She still hasn't thanked me either," at that moment Eva scowled and gave him a good whack on the head.

"Ah maggot-love," Albel crooned, but suddenly his main console began to beep very loudly.

"What's wrong?" Eva asked.

"I-, the computer is detecting high energy levels in the area. Funny these energy spikes seem vaguely familiar," a quick scene on the Aquaelie's bridge flashed in his mind as he saw energy charts spiking on the Support System screen. "Fuck, I don't know how but there are Enforcers here, keep your guards up guys!"

The two on the other end shot him puzzled looks. "Enforc-," Eric began but the line was suddenly cut and the cockpit of the other tank was replaced by a huge explosion and fiery red.

"Maverick! Maverick, do you copy? Do you copy? Shit!" Albel yelled and he hit the console, creating a dent on the dashboard, and electrical currents hissed from the damage.

Albel flipped on the main screens and turned on his long-range sensors, and there was nothing. Then suddenly there was a small 'blip', the beeping got louder and louder until 'thrash'! The top of the tank was blown clean off and Albel tilted his head upwards. He saw the heads of two ugly Enforcers falling from above and they both let loose bolts of energy, straight down at him. "Oh fuck me," he said under his breath.

The blasts ripped the tank apart and he was thrown up into the air and he hit the ground hard. He heard the cocking of guns and the beat of wings. Blood trickled down his eyebrow and he moaned as he slightly tilted his head upwards. He was surrounded by a circle of Hylennian Soldiers and 4D security guards alike. Two Enforcers hovered above him. The Enforcers looked just as intimidating as ever. They looked like angelic demons, and that's what they precisely were; able to bring death in an instant, yet possessing the image of angelic guardians.

Albel wouldn't let these maggots take his pride away. His whole body was sore with pain but he got up to face his enemies like a man. He angrily drew both swords and assumed his stance, ready to take on his attackers. The Enforcers hung emotionless, unbending, and statuesque.

Albel glanced around, he was trying to see whether Eva and Eric were safe or captured, just like he was. Albel looked around and thought _Maybe my luck has run out. One mission without Fayt and look what happens to me. Maybe I've gotten weak, I've been depending too much on those maggots I call my friends. Hell it's been some life. Dad, looks like I might be seeing you soon._

The soldiers around Albel aimed their weapons at him, but were suddenly struck by laser bolts, and Albel spun around to see the remnants of his unit coming to his aid. The remaining soldiers began to attack his captors, and the fight was back on.

Albel smiled _Sorry dad, our reunion might have to be prolonged._ Albel leapt up and tackled the first Enforcer head on. He dueled with the monster unleashing a fury of strikes, displaying his skill with the blade.

He let out a triumphant 'hoot' as he sliced the Enforcer's head clean off. However, the monster's head grew back. Albel groaned and he mentally struck himself as he was hit hard by the second Enforcer with a huge burst of yellow energy. He was thrown across the ground and his body scraped the earth, and once again he was lying face down in the earth.

He got up and tore off his cracked armor plate, the metal dug into his skin every time he breathed. "Damn thing was holding me back anyways," he murmured as he spat on the ground. He assumed his stance again and held his ground, awaiting the Enforcers' move. He was positioned in between the two monsters, and both were inching ever closer, menacingly.

Suddenly the first one came straight at him; he jumped straight up, landed on its head and stabbed one of his swords straight into its skull. Albel jumped up again and ran his sword down the Enforcer's back. The Enforcer growled in pain.

It turned around to face Albel, but Albel began to run around it very fast. The Enforcer couldn't hit Albel and finally just released a burst of yellow energy from its body with a loud roar. Albel was thrown backwards, but smiled; he focused his energy in his sword embedded in the Enforcer's skull. It pulsated red and began to dig down into the Enforcer's body.

"Dragon Blade!" he yelled. At that moment two red claws emerged from the Enforcer's body, and they ripped the monster's body open, in an attempt to break free. The Enforcer's body was torn into two as a dragon furiously emerged from the body. Albel smiled and landed neatly on his legs, panting hard. He gripped his arm covered in his gauntlet, as blood began to ooze from the armored appendage. Amidst the chaos of battle all around him, Albel had completely forgotten the second Enforcer and the Enforcer clawed at Albel's exposed chest, Albel whipped his other sword in his hand to block the strike.

The Enforcer swung its other claw, but Albel parried the second strike and attempted a lunge at the Enforcer. But the Enforcer simply hovered in the air and flew backwards to avoid the strike. Enforcer began to beat its wings furiously and it whipped up all the dirt, weapons, and deadbodies into a deadly whirlwind which caught Albel and sent him spiraling in the air.

Albel was buffeted by the heavy metal and the corpses, then the Enforcer flew straight at him, with the speed of a hawk and caught Albel's exposed chest with one of its body spikes. It had just missed his heart by inches, but nevertheless Albel choked up blood. The Enforcer removed its spike and he fell back down to the Earth.

Albel felt like a boulder had been thrown on top of his body as he hit the ground a small crater was formed around him. He gripped the large wound on his chest as blood trickled down his body. Albel coughed again, and he didn't get up this time. _Heh, I'm going to die in my own pool of blood, a tragic end I suppose._ He closed his eyes and waited for the Enforcer's final strike. But it never came.

"Get up Captain Nox, I'm not letting you die on my watch," a voice cried confidently. Albel smiled bitterly.

He opened his eyes to see Eric Maverick's goofy and confident face, along with Eva Saionji, standing over his body, between him and the Enforcer. Maverick held his sword awkwardly at his side.

"Maverick you fool…never let me catch you holding a sword like that ever again if we somehow escape this shit hole," Albel muttered sarcasrically.

"Roger sir! But we still have to survive this, you leave this to me!" he yelled and ran at the Enforcer, a faint symbol began to glimmer on his fist and Eva gasped.

"I knew it he has a symbol gene!" Eva cried. Albel grunted in reply, was he always being saved by naïve and foolish idiots. First Leingod, now this kid, when will it end?

Eric dashed at the Enforcer and slashed at it, but it was too fast for him. Eric growled and then focused his energy in his palms and dashed at an inhuman pace at his enemy. The Enforcer was pushed backwards and then Eric hit it with one last devastating slash.

His glowing sword cut off one of the Enforcer's wings. It growled and then spun around with its still intact wing and hit Eric with it. Eric dodged, but one of the thorny wingtips grazed his stomach.

"Dang it!" Eric cried and clenched his abdomen. Eva shot a few arrows at the monster then cried "Seraphic Thunder!" Bright blue lightning bolts struck at the Enforcer, and it frantically attempted to dodge them, but was unable to dodge the last one because the loss of its wing kept it off balance. It was paralyzed, and Eric seized the moment to attack it. "Celestial Sword!" he yelled and jumped up, with his sword glowing. However, the Enforcer regained mobility and quickly shot a burst of energy at Eric.

Eric yelled and was thrown to the ground, a smoking mass; he hit the ground hard, unconscious. Eva gritted her teeth as the Enforcer rounded on her.

"Don't panic maggot, or we're all dead," Albel said grimly. The Enforcer poised to strike but an airship from above flew in and a crimson headed figure dropped from above, and cut off the Enforcer's head with a flash of steel.

Eva cried triumphantly, but the woman silenced her. "It's not dead yet," she said sternly. She dashed at it, and acrobatically dodged a swipe from one of its wings. Then she yelled "Flying Guillotine!" A dark disk flew at the Enforcer and chopped its body into two. The Enforcer's corpse fell to the ground and the red-headed woman examined its body as she slid her two short swords into sheaths attached to her hips.

Nel Zelpher walked over to Albel's non-moving body. "Get up you loser," she said simply.

"W-Woman," Albel growled.

"Oh save it so-called 'Prince of Darkness' or whatever you call yourself," she sniggered. Eva laughed silently, but did not go unnoticed by Albel.

"Saionji, I'm still your CO!" he barked at her, and she immediately straightened up.

"At any rate you really got yourselves into a tight situation," Nel said and walked over to Eric, and pulled out a device and examined him.

"I-Is he all r-right m'am?" Eva asked, uncertainly.

"He'll be fine, vitals are all good. He just needs some rest."

"What about me you fool aren't you going to check me!" Albel cried.

Nel's eyes narrowed and she simply shrugged at him, "You're just a lost cause Nox. Always have been, always will."

"Why you!" Albel began but Nel cut him off as she pulled out her daggers as two more Enforcers in perfect condition flew towards them. However, there were two sets of footsteps behind Nel, that ran past her and attacked the Enforcers.

Two bluish-blurs ran at the Enforcers at light speed and hit them straight on. The first figure brandished a glowing sword at light speed and cut the Enforcer into two. Then bursts of energy from the figure's feet catapulted him over the Enforcer's body parts, and shot a huge blinding blast of light that decimated the enemy.

The second figure brandished two blades of ice from nowhere and threw them at the Enforcer. The two ice blades transformed into large ice spikes, which violently impaled the monster. The blue figure ran up to the Enforcer, touched it with her hands and it turned to ice. The first blue headed figure instantly appeared above the ice sculpture, who cracked it with a strong strike from his sword.

The ice figure shattered into a million pieces, and it was a beautiful sight to behold as the pieces of ice reflected the moonlight, as the battle had dragged into night.

The two figures walked towards them and Eva immediately went into a salutary stance. The first figure a man said in a kind voice, "At ease soldier."

"Y-Yes sir C-Commander Leingod sir!" Eva stammered. Fayt Leingod walked towards Albel and crouched down on his knees.

"You okay Al?" he asked, in his kind voice.

"I'm fine you maggot."

"Good old Albel," the second figure commented, as Maria Traydor stepped into the light given off by the fires created from the explosions.

"Woman," Albel quietly murmured, acknowledging her presence.

"I don't mean to sound unsympathetic, but status report Captain Nox," she replied, with a slight smile on her face.

"Well as you see everything is fucked. My unit is fucked, I'll be lucky to have even 10 of them alive. My body is fucked because of the fucking circumstances. And the whole situation is fucked because there are fucking 4D maggots here!" he cried, yelling his head off.

"Thank you Captain, Duly noted," Maria replied sweetly. Albel rolled his eyes.

"It is indeed strange that there are 4D beings here, I-I thought that mess was over with, but it looks like we're going to have to pay Blair a visit," Fayt said.

Everyone agreed except for Eva who asked, "Sorry sir, but I have no idea what the hell is going on here. I thought our enemies were Sepratist units here on Rylen."

"I thought so too but it seems we are dealing with a much bigger problem on our hands. I know not much is making sense right now, but I'de be surprised if you did understand," Fayt replied.

"For now all we can do is clean up here and gather the rest of our men. It seems the enemy has been routed anyhow. Also I would like your Report on my desk Staff Sargeant Saionji," sad Maria.

"Y-Yes m'am!" she cried. The airship that had dropped off Nel returned and landed in a clearing close to them. They walked over to the ship and Fayt and Maria loaded the now-unconscious Albel and Eric onto the ship.

"Nel I want you to roundup the remaining troops and see what you can salvage from the enemies, and see if you can't get some data to help us make heads or tails of this mess," Fayt explained. Nel nodded and then Fayt turned to Eva, "Officer Saionji, I want you to assist Captain Zelpher with her assignment, and help with the morale of your unit."

"Sir, before you leave I think you should recover S. Sargeant Kenny, he was badly injured as well during the fighting," she replied.

"Not to worry Miss Saionji, my other ship has confirmed that they have recovered Officer Kenny as well."

"Oh that's relieving, thank you."

"No. Thank you, you guys did good work today, which goes for Mr. Maverick as well. We need more soldiers such as you three." Eva nodded and Fayt boarded the ship. Eva and Nel watched the ship take off and they both turned around to manage the remnants of their troops.

As Nel shuffled through the burnt pieces of armor, and spare guns she stumbled across a small communicator. It looked out of place and didn't seem like any communicator she had ever seen before. A label 'Sphere Inc.' was stamped across the underside of the device.

_That means that 4D beings were indeed directly linked to today's events. The Enforcers weren't here due to mere coincidence. Fayt said they might have been stray Enforcers from the first group that Luther had sent. Could Luther be interfering again? He couldn't have been, they defeated him. Then again, that was just his manifestation as a result of being hooked up to the Eternal Sphere, or so Blair said. Maybe didn't hurt him physically at all, maybe he is still alive in 4D space. But no. He can't be. Something is definitely off here. _

Nel looked around to see if she could find more clues, but there were none others to be found. They would have to engage the Rylennian forces further and find the source of their dilemma.

Eva walked up to Nel, supporting Cadet Kawasaki, holding him up on her shoulder, the two slowly wobbled toward her. "M'am what were those monsters? W-Were they gods?" she asked.

Nel closed her eyes quickly and shook her head. "Gods don't exist, remember that and you'll retain your sanity," she replied coldly. Eva remained silent and walked off with Kawasaki, looking for a medic to help patch him up. Nel looked skywards, remembering her trip into 4D space.

* * *

And there you go, I'll get up another chapter soon, it may or may not be related to this story. So we'll see where the wind takes us!

Read and Review!


	2. Its Not Over Part 1

Disclaimer: I own nada. Its been awhile people, I hope I still have readers out there XD. This particular section falls back on my first story a lot so you may be lost if you are reading it independently-fair warning. Otherwise, enjoy!

* * *

2 - Its not Over

Fayt smiled falsely to the man on the projector in front of him. He sat lazily on his 'Captain' Chair while he nodded and pretended to agree with the man throwing technical jargon at him. Fayt gritted his teeth and steeled his gaze at the man talking gibberish to him.

"Enough Commander Ainsley, I've had about enough of your complaining about the actions of my men. They did not mean to, ahem, using your words, 'cahort' with the princess of Peronia. They are simply teenaged boys who lack discipline. They will face severe military consequences, as we speak my colleague, Maria Traydor is stripping the two of their leadership positions and will be suspended until further notice."

"Well that's a start Commander Leingod. We are all looking for a smooth transition into the Galactic Council," the man finished with a wry smile.

Leingod sighed as the man signed off. It had been a long couple months, after the appearance of Executioners on Rylen, he had been on edge since then. After they had dispatched the resistance they found no further traces of 4D influence. And negotiations progressed seamlessly, the Seperatist leader was a Rylen renegade soldier who had been dismissed from duty for engaging in a space conflict with Vendeeni soldiers because they mined on an asteroid in Rylenian subspace.

As they were inducted into the Galactic Council they were able to settle the misunderstanding, newly appointed ambassador Wifra was able to sort things out.

Since then they had moved over to the Pernonyxen System, a series of developed planets in the Gamma sector. He had sent Maria, Eric, Eva and Kenny on a mission to negotiate terms with the Peronian system. No more than 3 days into the mission, Eric had been caught 'negotiating' his own terms with the Peronian Princess, Lyla. Needless to say King Yuf was furious, but Fayt was able to cool things over.

More importantly, Eric Maverick had displayed signs of symbological power. His power seemed to be much more restrained than his, as they weren't artificially injected, but rather inherited. Fayt suspected he would be a powerful ally in time, but he had concerns how many other individuals possessed symbological power. He had voiced his opinions to his mother, since she was the head of the Earth government.

She had said it was not impossible because they were artificial genes which they had implanted in the children so, given biological constructs they may have naturally appeared in other life forms. Much like the inherited powers of Edge Maverick. But scientifically, they were the first ones to undertake that kind of experimentation due to the laws against symbological experimentation as well as ethical issues prevalent in the galaxy. While other races naturally possessed means to utilize symbology, much like the runology of the Elicoorians.

In addition, to the 4D invaders there were numerous issues on his mind. Well he thought he might as well tackle the easiest one. He left his Captain's Chair, and notioned to Nel. "Nel you got the bridge," Nel nodded and removed the headset she had on and got up. Fayt made toward the sliding doors to exit the bridge and made his way down to the conference room area.

Fayt had his eyes fixated upon his shoes but his head shot upward when he heard yelling. He rushed into the room and saw three figures isolated in the corner and one very angry Maria Traydor spitting fire at them.

"NO BRAINS! CAN'T KEEP PENIS IN YOUR PANTS. CHILDREN! NO DISCIPLINE!" she bellowed at Eric. Then she rounded on the other two, "AND YOU TWO! THIS WAS AN IMPORTANT CONFERENCE! I BROUGHT YOU ALL TO OBSERVE AND LEARN! YOU COULN'T STOP THIS IDIOT FROM BANGING DADDY'S LITTLE GIRL!"

"But, she was asking for it! She's really a freak you know!" Maria looked up at him and nearly flung herself across the conference table.

"Maria." Fayt said calmly.

"Yes honey?" she asked sweetly as she recoiled, inches away from tearing Eric's head off his frame.

"I'll take it from here," he said calmly. Maria nodded and threw herself in a chair.

"Look you three, Maria is right, I sent you with her so you all could learn and maybe I could depend on one of you and you by yourself on future occasions."

"Commander-," Eva tried, but Fayt put up a hand to silence her.

"You all will be suspended from duty until further notice, I am also assigning you guys to janitorial duties, that is all, you may return to your cabins now."

They left silently, not daring to look at Fayt, not to mention Maria. "Why do I feel like my father right now?"

Maria smiled at him, "They are just kids, not much younger than we are, but nevertheless they haven't seen what we've seen. We have only saved the universe twice."

"Well technically just once for you, I had to save you last time remember?" he asked.

She sneered at him, "Yes well, I was counting it for our group." There was a slight pause then she shifted in her seat and said, "Maverick reminds me of you."

"Really, how so? Is it his ability to woo any woman?" he joked as he moved towards her, brushing aside her hair, pseudo-romantically.

"Aha, cute. No, his determination."

"Ah, overall how did the negotiations go, is the King still angry?"

"No I smoothed things out rather well. I also threw in some Trade Agreements to sweeten the deal."

"That's good, when does Alistair arrive?"

"He should be here soon, his ship was one warp jump away, he just finished negotiating with the Subotians."

"I don't think Alistair likes me very much he's always so stiff and tense, of the two times I've met him."

"He's probably just jealous, he is 4 years your senior yet you are already a Commander, offered the Supreme Commander Job that you gave to Cliff as well!"

"I don't see why he should be he has his own esteemed family name. Plus he is a brilliant and capable leader as well as a fighter, probably one of the best the Federation had. I've heard he is a damn good pilot too," Fayt replied blushing.

"Well I think you're pretty awesome babe," Maria replied shooting him a devlish smile. Her communicator beeped and her head shot up as her azure eyes met Fayt's. "Alistair is here."

Fayt nodded and they exited and headed toward the hangar bay. When they arrived Eric Maverick was standing to the side at attention, just outside Alistair's shuttle. Eric seemed to look a little under the weather and looked as if a slight breeze would topple the young man. A man in white battle armor and a white cape exited the shuttle's ramp and walked towards his brother's best friend, arms outstretched.

"I've heard you've finally begun to make yourself useful to Commander Leingod, despite a couple distractions," Alistair said as he embraced him then said "You're sister says hello." Eric mumbled something then his body immediately shot back to an erect position as Fayt and Maria approached the two.

"Commander Kenny, how were the Subotians, did they try to sacrifice you to their gods?" Fayt asked with a grimace, referencing to the polytheistic yet highly advanced society.

"Commander Leingod! Well it wasn't an easy ordeal sir, I had to convince them that their gods would rejoice at their induction into the Galactic Council. All in all it was a successful campaign; I'd like to apologize to you about Eric's folly. He's young and new to the barracks, he'll learn in good time. After all he is a Maverick!"

"Nah its ok I understand he is a soldier just like any other and it will take him time. I'm sorry to say that your brother was badly injured during the struggle for Rylen. He is a great soldier and will only continue to improve maybe even command his own ship like his brother in due time."

"You flatter us Leingod, but anyways onto business, though I would like to see him later if he is able but we have an urgent situation from command that we need to address."

"Of course, if you'd just follow us to the bridge," Fayt replied with a gracious smile. Fayt caught a glimpse of Eric's face before turning to leave; the boy looked a bit grim, so Fayt gave him a quick wink.

"Albel, Nel, conference in the Bridge, if you don't mind," Maria said to her communicator, then quickly snapped it back onto her belt.

They reached the bridge and one of the officers hailed Fayt and said, "Commander, Supreme Commander Fittir is on comm 2, do you want me to patch him through to the main screen?" Fayt nodded as he took to his chair.

A big muscular man with blond hair appeared on the screen wearing a long black overcoat. "Commander Leingod, Kenny, glad to see you guys," Cliff said, his formal tone did not suit him at all. As he addressed them Nel and Albel entered the room, and Cliff acknowledged the two forthwith.

"Let's begin shall we, Fayt we have a situation. Involving the Time Gate on Styx." Fayt's stomach lurched, ever since he caught wind of the Time Gate it was always bad. "I sent our 18th fleet, the second largest in the Republic's arsenal to Styx because we were getting weird magnetic readings from the planet. However, I've lost contact with them."

"When did you send them?" Fayt inquired, with his arms crossed against his chest.

"About a day ago, so they should've given me a status report about 10 hours ago, that's why it is troubling me." Fayt and Maria looked at each other, uneasily.

"So you need us to check it out huh?" Maria asked.

"Yeah. Be careful guys, more reports have been streaming in across the galaxy about 'weird' beings," he said addressing Maria, Fayt, Albel and Nel. Fayt nodded. Alistair looked confused and seemed to read the looks of despair across their faces. He looked as if he was about to press the matter but let it go.

"We're on it Supreme Commander," Alistair replied confidently. "Well I guess we are off to Styx then, I'll take my leave for now, I was wondering if I could see my brother?"

"Yeah I'll take you to him, Medical Bay 4," Nel said. They nodded Fayt, Maria and Albel stayed on the bridge.

"Nel, Alistair meet us in the tactical room in about an hour to discuss our plan," Maria said to them. They nodded and disappeared behind the bridge's sliding doors.

They were silent for a moment then Albel said, "Aw hell yeah, time to put the beat down on those 4D fools!"

Maria and Fayt both silenced him as they were both in deep thought. Albel looked at them menacingly then muttered 'fools' and stormed off.

Maria and Fayt soon exited the bridge and they walked towards the tactical battle room.

"I thought we'd solved everything already," Maria muttered.

"It's a galaxy of problems Maria," Fayt responded, they stopped in the middle of the hall.

"It's just we've been planning our marriage and things were awesome, but then these problems began to erupt again, its all just very frustrating!" she said angrily as she put a hand to her blaster.

"Look, it doesn't matter when we get married as long as we are together like we are now. That's all that counts right? That we're together and in love?"

Maria looked at him and laughed, "You dork, but I guess you're right. But, when is this all going to end, I want to settle down to you know? Not now but eventually…"

"I understand, but Maria we have powers that others lack and we have to use it to benefit others and protect our loved ones, such as my mother. Cliff, Mirage, Nel, Albel, Adray, Roger; although I've heard Adray is enjoying life on Hyda IV right now and his tattoo business is flourishing! Besides remember what happened to Peppita? I couldn't live with myself if our friends were still fighting and I couldn't save them."

_Always the hero_ she thought to herself. "You're right, I'm sorry. Besides saving the universe is pretty awesome."

"That's my girl. Besides we have to make the universe safe for someone else to."

"Oh yeah who?" Maria asked.

"Our future children of course!" Fayt said with a smile. Maria smiled then tackled Fayt and began to make out with him passionately. They soon heard footsteps to their left and stopped.

Eric Maverick and Eva Saionji were walking the corridor and were about to turn the other way but too late, they had been spotted.

"Commander Leingod, Commander Traydor, uh we were…" Eric stammered looking for words.

"Maverick damn it shouldn't you be cleaning the toilets!" Maria bellowed at him.

"Yes m'am right away sir, I mean m'am I mean gah!" he cried as he grabbed Eva and walked at a furious pace in no definite direction except away from them.

Fayt and Maria laughed and they walked to the tactical room. Fayt entertained himself with the idea of children_ they would be some super powered kids…_ Maria seemed to have similar thoughts or read his, because she softly chuckled and punched him in the arm.

When they entered Alistair was seated next to Albel and Nel. While three other officers that led the ground troops were also seated. Maria was the tactical specialist at Fayt's disposal so he let her lead the proceedings.

She dimmed the lights and pressed a button and a projection of the galaxy appeared before them. She zoomed in on a group of stars and planets until two fleets of ships were visible. She zoomed out slightly to view their surrounding star systems. They were currently located just outside of Peronia VI the main Planet of the Pernonyxen system, part of the Beta sector. Nearby was Planet Styx, a sandy and dusty colored planet.

"Alright people, our intel says that the 18th fleet was dispatched to Styx about 24 hours ago and failed to report 10 hours ago. Magnetic fluctuations were detected and we have been tasked with finding the solution to this problem."

"M'am do you have any idea what is causing these magnetic disturbances?" one of the officers asked.

"I have a hunch, in fact I have at least 30 different explanations half of which would not make sense to you and the other half would take too long to explain." The man gulped and shut his mouth.

"The fact that we have not heard from the 18th fleet is quite troubling, they are one of the largest fleets in our arsenal with the newest and most advanced Expellian gunships. I don't want to think the entire fleet has been bested but we can't just charge in with guns blazing. So I propose that a small task force enters the subspace and I will conceal it with my Alteration powers from the opposition."

"After confirming there is no threat we can contact our fleet to come in and support us. Or once we locate the central disturbance we can eliminate the threat. Fayt we will have to contact Sophia, however, about this mission we will need her Connection gene to contact the fleet in the event of magnetic jamming or if we need to teleport back to the ship if the situation is grave."

"Understood, I think she is in a nearby sector, I'll contact her immediately," Fayt said as he left the room.

"Who will make up this task force?" Alistair asked.

"Well Nel and Albel will accompany us as well as our elite troops. Captain Fawkes can you assemble 50 of our best soldiers and have them ready to depart in about 5 hours?" Maria asked the second officer sitting in. He nodded and exited the room.

"Alistair did you want to accompany us? I originally planned for you to stay here and coordinate our fleets."

"No, I will join you I will leave my fleet in command with my first-mate."

"Alright then, Captain Hendricks you will assume command of the 7th fleet in our absence," Captain Hendricks saluted her and left the room, following his peer.

* * *

Fayt stood in wait at the hangar bay as they prepared their shuttle, the _Calnus_ to depart. Sophia was due to arrive at any moment, luckily she was returning to Earth from negotiations with a planet in the Alpha Sector. Sophia had become an ambassador for Earth with the Galactic Republic.

It wasn't too long ago that Sophia had confessed her love for him, but he had decided to stay with the _Diplo_, where he pursued his love for Maria. In retrospect, he thought, he always had feelings for Maria. Once Sophia had recovered, after the fight for the Federal City they conversed about that and Sophia apologized for the way she had acted.

It had been just a few days after Fayt had defeated Indalecio, when he visited Sophia in her tent, only to find Maria and her talking and laughing about something. He blushed when he first saw the two together, two women whom he deeply cared for. However, his feelings extended to intimacy for one but only had sibling-like feelings for the other.

"Fayt, I was just talking to Sophia about how you defeated that guy that had enslaved her. It seems trouble always seems to follow you two, or rather us three I guess." Fayt couldn't speak, it seemed slightly awkward for whatever reason. So Maria decided to leave.

"I'll let you two have a moment alone," as she turned to walk away from Fayt, his hand shot out and firmly grabbed her forearm.

"You don't have to leave you know," Fayt said, determinedly. Maria remained silent and merely smiled at him and walked off. Fayt walked over to Sophia's bedside and finally planted his behind on the edge of her bed.

"So looks like I had to save you..again," he chuckled.

"Yeah, I like it when you do that, it makes me feel like a princess," she smiled weakly.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her.

"Better now, a bit woozy but I'm feeling better," she smiled again but she slightly lowered her gaze and silence descended upon them. "Fayt, I still love you," she said without looking up.

"I-Sophia, I love you too, but like a sister…"

Sophia looked up at him, tears slowly forming around her eyes. "I know, but" she said and paused but moved towards Fayt and brought her lips closer to his. But Fayt pulled away.

"I am in love with Maria, Sophia, I just can't. We-we can't be."

Sophia sniffled, but smiled, "I suppose it wouldn't help if I died my hair blue would it?"

Fayt chuckled, "You'd look ridiculous."

"Fayt we can still be friends right?"

"Of course we can! We never stopped being friends. I will always try and protect you, but I can't fulfill your romantic needs. It isn't my fate to do so."

"Good. You know I've always had a…hunch. Pardon me for using Cliff's 'vernacular'. But, I just remember seeing her with you. When she was around you… she reminded me of well…me. You seem to inspire everyone around you Fayt. But why her, why can't I…"

"Sophia…you said it yourself there was a spark. She balances me really well, and I...I don't know there's something hot about a girl who will look up everything about you and travel halfway around the galaxy to find you I guess," Fayt replied scratching his head and laughing.

"Wow you really love her."

"Yeah, I do, I love it when we argue because I need someone to deflate my ego or if I'm being too self-righteous."

"I see the way you look at her, and just look you would have torn apart the entire universe for her, which you probably could have done anyhow…"

"Sophia…I hate to be cliché but…you'll find someone that deserves to have you." Sophia smiled and shut her eyes. Fayt turned to leave but saw a shimmer of tears stream down her eyes. _I'm sorry _he mouthed and left the tent; he didn't have to go far and ran into Maria.

"Were you there the whole time?" Fayt asked. She simply nodded and hugged him; Fayt felt her warm embrace but couldn't hold back the tears.

* * *

Fayt sighed and hoped things wouldn't be too weird between them. Fayt soon caught sight of Sophia's ship, a small Luxury-class cruiser; it landed next to the _Calnus_ and soon saw her walking down the ramp of the ship. She was wearing a flowing pink dress, and had her hair wound up tight in a bun.

"Fayt!" she cried and ran over to him and gave him a tight hug.

"Sophia, it's great to see you again, how went the negotiations?"

"They were alright, but they were a pompous group of people and bored me with a bunch of pleasantries."

They began to walk around the hangar and Fayt asked, "How are you enjoying your new exalted position oh Ambassador Esteed?"

"I actually really like it, meeting different types of people, more importantly different races. Some planets in the world are so impoverished and I really want to be involved in welfare legislation for these people."

"Wow that's awesome, while I'm traversing the galaxy waving a heavy sword, you're gonna be changing the universe. So things have turned out exactly the way we wanted to when we were kids huh?"

"Er-yeah," she said softly and looked away from him, " cuz we both planned to be leaders and architects of a new universal order!"

They both laughed and Fayt briefed her on the situation as they headed to the armory. She pursed her lips as she grabbed a battle rifle from the weapons rack. "I don't like this one bit, it has Luther and 4D written all over it."

Fayt nodded, he was about to speak when Maria, Nel, and Albel entered the room. All outfitted in carbonite battle suits.

"Sophia! When did you get in?" Maria asked as she gave her a quick hug. Fayt's stomach lurched as he observed the two of them. They exchanged pleasentries, then Nel greeted her while Albel shot a quick 'maggot'.

"Alright then we better get going. Alpha team let's move out!" Fayt exclaimed as he addressed a group of soldiers to his right. The soldiers grunted in response, Fayt raised his eyebrow as he spotted three shorter figures.

"Men!" he barked. They stopped in their tracks, and pivoted on their heels and stood at attention.

"Sir!" they replied with muffled voices behind their combat masks. Fayt strode toward them and removed their helmets. It was Maverick and his crew. Maria pursed her lips.

"SHAME! Shame on all of you! You are all still suspended indefinitely!"

"M'am—," Eric started but was hushed by Maria.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP MAVERICK!" everyone was surprised at her reaction and Eric seemed to be shaking in his boots. Another figure walked over, a slender figure in white armor.

"What's all this—Thomas, what are you doing suited up? You are still suspended. I'm very disappointed in you for disobeying you're CO's orders like that," Alistair said sternly. Thomas looked down and stayed silent.

"Back to your cabins soldiers, that's an order," Fayt said coldly. The three trotted towards the hangar bay's exit. Their group soon boarded the shuttle and they all piled into the main cockpit with the pilot. The pilot saluted to them before he powered up the ship and ran his pre-flight check. He pressed a few buttons, conferred with his co-pilot then lifted the shuttle off the hangar bay and the shuttle exited the _Justice Avenger_.

"Maria that's you're cue," Fayt said softly. Maria nodded and removed her gloves and closed her eyes as her palms began to shimmer, giving off aqua blue rays of light and let the light envelop the walls around them. The walls absorbed the light and looked as if they reconfigured the molecular structure of the walls around them. After another 5 minutes Maria replaced her gloves and exhaled. She nodded to Fayt, who then turned to Sophia.

"Right let me just detect a warp hole," she closed her eyes and her palms began to flash green as a swirling green vortex opened up in front of them. "Go!" she cried. Without a second of hesitation, their pilot hit the thrusters to max and their ship shot forward into the warp hole.

They looked in wonder at the green light surrounding their ship, millions of symbological runes swirling around them, revolving and spinning at a rapid rate. Fayt wondered if the spinning symbological runes somehow caused a magnetic disruption in space which allowed for them to warp at such unprecedented velocities. _I must tell my mother about my theory_ he thought, imagining his _Justice Avenger_ outfitted with a symbological warp drive.

"We'll be exiting in three…two…one…." Sophia counted as the green light around them dissipated and they were spewed out by the warp hole as the ship was immediately rocked by red pulsating photons. Maria cringed as the blast sapped energy from her which required her to maintain their advantage of surprise.

Their pilot twisted the ship into numerous complicated maneuvers to steady the ship and avoid enemy fire. "What the hell is happening?" Albel shouted. Warning klaxons were beeping all around them, Fayt had to take a second to steady himself and peer out the shuttle's window. He saw numerous GRF battleships fighting with a bevy of Executioners. There were also large black ships, rivaling the Alpha Class GRF battleships. The ship lurched again and they held onto their seats for dear life as the pilot maneuvered to avoid the debris of a large chunk of a GRF ship.

"Pilot have we been detected on any enemy sensors yet!" Maria yelled.

"No m'am! We haven't been locked onto yet!" Maria swore under her breath. "What the hell is going on why are there so many Executioners?" Fayt shook his head.

"Sophia! Try and contact Commander Brag of the _Lucida_" Fayt bellowed as he was thrown back into his seat as the pilot skillfully dodged a fighter coming straight at them. Sophia nodded and attempted to concentrate amidst the chaos.

"G-Got him, open up that access port!" she yelled as she put her palm against the access port, where data drives were usually inserted.

"Impressive! I didn't know you could do that with your 'Connection' gene!" Fayt yelled. Sophia grinned and then an old but stout man soon appeared on the screen. The lights on the bridge had been dimmed and Commander Brag looked slightly disheveled.

"Commander Brag!" Fayt yelled.

"Leingod! Good to see you this isn't Brag. I'm First-Mate Leonard! Commader Brag was murdered as he was invited down to Styx to negotiate with the enemy."

"Damn it! Do you know who the enemy is?"

"Yes sir, the CO seems to be a man named Lucifer. Sir what are these things?" Leonard proceeded to ask a bevy of questions which went right over Fayt's head because he wasn't listening. _Luther…Lucifer…_ Fayt snapped back to life.

"I'll explain later, but how goes the fight for us?"

"Bad, we've been on our toes just trying to stay alive the creatures are so nimble and it is hard for us to win against them. About half the fleet has been destroyed."

Fayt considered things for a second, to his companions he said, "We have to figure out what the hell is going on planet-side. We're going down there guys, Sophia you have to get us down there." She nodded in response.

"Leonard, you've been promoted, try and stay alive, Commander. Give'em hell! Pilot, activate the signal to call in our fleet." Fayt responded. Fayt told the pilots to put the shuttle on auto-pilot and they gathered in the lower engine room of the shuttle.

* * *

That's all for now, this is gonna be a two part one-shot! R&R


	3. Its Not Over Part 2

Hey everybody part 2 of the last section!

Disclaimer: I own nothing

* * *

2 - Its Not Over

"Alright grab onto or make sure you are grabbing onto someone touching me or else you're gonna go down with this shit!" Sophia cried. "3…2…1!" and in a bright flash of green they're forms disappeared from the shuttle right as it collided into an Executioner, engulfing it in flames.

Fayt fell hard onto the dusty surface of Styx and pulled his cloak over his face to prevent the sand from buffeting his face. He looked around then was alarmed when a soldier shouted, "Contact!" he bellowed as he released a round of bolts at an Executioner.

The monster shrieked in pain, Fayt had developed these new guns for his men with his mother, it relied on symbological power derived from energy crystals imbued with Fayt's energy. Thirty or so more Executioner's descended on them.

"Aw yeah time to do some damage," Albel cried as he twisted a node on his armor. Their soldiers did likewise, they were shielding devices based on Maria's 'Alteration' gene. They altered the air molecules around the wielder to lessen the blow dealt to him or her.

"Guys stay within 40 ft of me," Maria said as her palms grew blue and enveloped their party in a light blue dome of light which dissipated after a couple seconds.

Fayt exhaled as the first batch descended upon them, he adjusted his footing then in a leap he threw himself at an executioner focused his energy in his palms and two blue blades of energy extended from his palms. He sliced through the Executioner like butter and then threw the two blue blades which flickered to lightning bolts in his hands at two Executioners approaching Albel.

"You maggot those were mine!" he spat. Albel searched for his next target and found an Executioner giving the soldiers some trouble. Albel leapt up and yelled "Dragon Roar!" as a red energy dragon erupted from his palm and attacked the Executioner. As it distracted the beast Albel disappeared in a blur and slashed the Executioner in multiple places along its body, until the soldiers eventually took it down. "Good fight!" Albel growled.

Maria grimaced; _The thrill of battle always gets my blood pumping_ she thought as she smiled to herself. She focused on an approaching Executioner and focused on the air molecules around it until she stopped the rotation of the Oxygen and Nitrogen atoms then began to spin them in a direction that caused them to compress around the monster. It began to shriek in pain, "Nel finish it!" she cried.

"Gladlly," Nel said curtly and brandished her short swords and dashed toward the monster, with its free claw it tried to slash at Nel but she deftly grabbed onto it and shot a burst of red symbology at its claw, singing its flesh. In a clockwise motion she slashed its head clean off its hinges.

Alistair was supporting a group of soldiers, but stood in awe at the power of his companions. They were dispatching the Executioners easily. He was mostly impressed by Fayt's skill, he had hardly broken a sweat. He watched his raw power as he disintegrated an Executioner with a blast from his palm. _Anyone would be foolish to challenge the might of the GRF with these individuals on our hands. So who dares provoke us?_ His answer would soon be answered.

The Executioners stopped coming and they were able to relax for a second. "Alright, good job so far men, we're not out of this yet, to the time gate!"

The trekked through the sand storm, all of them pulling their cloaks close. "Maria can't you do something about the sand?" Maria nodded and after a second or two, the sand stopped hitting them, the grains of sand would just blow away if they came within 2 feet of them. The time gate soon came into view but a camp of hostiles surrounded it.

"There are way too many," Maria observed.

"They look like 4D soldiers," Nel replied. Fayt looked on he noticed a man with white hair in the center in particular. He looked past the Time Gate and pillars of light extended from the main orb that dug down into the surface. Fayt was puzzled at what it could be.

"Sophia can you transport me within blade length of that man with white hair? Maria you're going to have to conceal yourself and the rest of the group until I give the signal."

Sophia nodded. "If you are even slightly in danger transport outta here and take Maria and the others with you…Ready?" he asked Sophia. Maria opened her mouth as if to argue with Fayt, but he had that determined look upon his face. There would be no changing his mind. In a flash Fayt and Sophia disappeared and Maria's figure along with the rest of their forced faded into the background.

" Who the hell are you," Fayt said coolly as he appeared next to the white-haired man and brought his blade to the man's neck. Sophia stood quietly next to Fayt with a rifle in one hand and her staff in the other.

"Fayt Leingod, I had a feeling we would meet again…" the man said without turning around. Fayt was puzzled but motioned for Sophia to check out to see who it was. Sophia gasped and looked as pale as a geisha.

"Fayt…it's L-Luther," as she said that the man swirled his cloak quickly and vanished and appeared to Fayt's left. Fayt turned to face the man, and was shocked to see his facial similarities to Luther. However, he was sure this man wasn't Luther, not by a long shot. This man seemed more powerful.

"So Luther…or are you Luther?" Fayt asked harshly.

"I am and I am not," the man replied. "Mr. Leingod it has all become quite complicated. The Sphere company has been shut down and taken over by the 4D government, Blair has been taken into custody. The result now is re-programming. The government has been altering certain parts of the mainframe and as a result random races are now finding random anomalies—individuals who posess greater powers, which are just all program errors. So we stopped tinkering for a while then decided why don't we just pull the plug on the mainframe?"

Fayt gulped, they couldn't have they were still there weren't they?

"Well that failed too as we are still standing here. The Time Gate has transcended its original purpose…a remote service terminal that programmers could use to access or fix data. It has become a nuisance really. So now we found another solution to use Styx, or its data to corrupt other files until the entire system just crashes."

Sophia gasped, "You're mobilizing Styx as a weapon aren't you? Like a moving planet, that's why we detected strange magnetic anomalies."

"Very good data," Pseudo-Luther replied.

"That still doesn't explain you Luther, we defeated you," said Fayt.

"Yes well my body remains very much alive, as soon as my consciousness was lost they hooked me up to a machine that pooled the remaining memories from the electrical signals in my brain before I was lost forever, re-configuring my consciousness and now I live on in the Eternal Sphere as Lucifer."

"Unfortunately I don't remember being bested by you, but, we will just have to relive the conflict..won't we?" he asked as wings formed by red energy sprouted from his back.

Fayt steadied himself, then he shot Sophia a look who nodded and she disappeared from sight. Fayt attempted to gauge Lucifer's strength but his exact readings were being hidden from him. He grinned, "Well I've gotten at least twice as strong since I faced Luther, so I'm gonna have a couple surprises of my own. He switched on his symbological ward, as he felt the air distort around him. He smirked and observed the situation.

4D soldiers surrounded him and were closing in on him, he focused his energy in his palms as solid blue blades of energy extended from either palm. Lucifer looked on, in interest, sizing up his foe. The soldiers began to fire at him and he let the wards absorb the shots and felt the ward draw from his strength, measuring the amount of energy each bolt took from him; it was only a marginal amount.

He soon began to deflect laser bolts at an unprecedented speed, not even breaking a sweat, then he dashed forward and began to hack away at every soldier within a 3 foot radius around him. Blood and limbs began to be thrown up in the air but Fayt's wards prevented blood from staining him. He was about to hack through a contingent of troops to his left but he found them straggling with an unknown force behind them. A pair of short swords cut a soldier in half and a katana cut through a second soldier as if unveiling a curtain.

When the men's bodies had fallen to the floor their figures were replaced with the bodies of Nel, Albel and Maria's. Sophia and Alistair were behind them. "Took you guys long enough," Fayt said.

"You maggot! Trying to have all the fun!" Albel barked at him.

"So who is their leader?" Nel asked.

"They are all 4D soldiers led by a Pseudo-Luther, he goes by Lucifer," Fayt replied. Alistair seemed confused but thought it better to remain silent. "Alistair, Albel you guys are gonna come with me and take him down. Maria, Nel, Sophia, keep their 4D soldiers off our backs as best you can."

They nodded in response and Maria yelled, "Men clear the way and cover Commander Leingod's back!" The men shouted in response and began to fire at the 4D soldiers.

Albel and Alistair dashed forward in the hole formed in the line but Fayt hung back. "Do you need energy? I know the ward is probably sapping you're strength."

"Only a little bit, I know you're gonna need it to take down Lucifer." Fayt nodded and they locked hands and a blue light enveloped their hands. "Thanks," she said and gave him a quick kiss, "go save the world hero."

Fayt flicked his hair and winked at her as he blasted a hole in the line of enemies in front of him and disappeared behind it.

Lucifer had retreated towards the Time Gate, and Fayt and co. had to make their way through a sea of enemies. Lucifer seemed to be opening the gate and letting soldiers through the time rift. Lucifer noticed them and shot Fayt a smirk as if challenging him to take another step. Fayt matched his smirk and playfully lifted his arm and beckoned Lucifer to come over and face _him._

"Come on you programmed my code, what secrets can I have than you don't already know about?" Fayt taunted.

"You have become quite unpredictable Leingod. When you're parents gave you the gene you seemed to become like a sort of AI," he shouted back as he beckoned for his troops to attack them.

"Well you know how all those 20th century movies ended up…the AI always destroyed the obsolete!" Fayt joked. "Albel, try not to use too many of your techniques, it'll keep him off balance."

"Yeah yeah maggot, I'm gonna cut this fool into ribbons like I did to Luther," Albel growled as he brandished his katana and removed his cloak. Fayt smirked and looked at Alistair.

"Alistair I don't know if you have any special abilities but, same goes for you."

"I'll just try and stay out of your way Leingod," Alistair laughed. Fayt shrugged and Albel let out a bloodthirsty warcry.

"I bet you I'll get to him first Leingod," Albel said coolly.

"Last one to hit him is buying a round of drinks when we get home,"Fayt replied as he brandished his two swords.

"Guess that's gonna be me," Alistair responded feebly. A row of soldiers began to shoot at them and the three began to dodge their bolts easily, but then a second group of soldiers with large shields rushed towards then. Alistair switched to his battle rifle and began to fire at them but the bolts were absorbed by the shields. As they got closer the shields morphed into laser edged blades.

Luckily for Albel, Maria had altered the structure of his katana so that it would retain its weight and balance but would be able to withstand the intensity of a laser weapon. He locked blades with the soldier but with his free hand he clawed at the man's wrist. The man shrieked in pain, dropped his weapon, and Albel soon beheaded the unfortunate soldier.

Fayt took on two soldiers and focused the intensity of his energy into his swords and cut through his enemies' blades like butter, severed their hands, and then sliced their bodies in half.

"Lucifer! Face me you coward!" Fayt jeered. Lucifer looked frustrated and spread his red-energy wings and flew towards him with a large purple scythe. Fayt waited for him, as his eyes glowed blue, right as Lucifer slashed at Fayt his body and split into two, and Lucifer's scythe struck the ground. Lucifer looked up and saw two identical figures that looked like Fayt, however one had blond hair and looked extremely cocky.

"Man I wish I could have helped out the first time around to beat this guy he is ugly!" the doppelganger cried.

"Ronyx focus!" Fayt barked. Ronyx scoffed and bounded on Lucifer, releasing a flurry of strikes. Lucifer easily blocked all of them, but then Fayt jumped into the action and soon enough Lucifer was attempting to fend off two attackers at once. Albel looked deathly and confused.

_Two maggots? _He thought, Albel thought he was dreaming, he shook himself out of his dazed stupor as an Executioner flew at him, attempting to harm him. Albel dodged and hissed. "Damn it Leingod's gonna get the first hit on that fool." Albel dodged again as the Executioner attempted to rake him with his wings, and ducked under a huge claw. Albel gritted his teeth and was about to unleash a "Dragon's Roar", but refrained from doing do, remembering Fayt's warning. _The fool is drawing me into using my abilities. _Albel sheathed his katana instead and dodged the beast once more.

Meanwhile Fayt and Ronyx were dancing around Lucifer, just playing with him. Ronyx striked at Lucifer's head then stabbed at his thigh, both strikes were blocked. But Fayt immediately lunged at Lucifer's ribs, nicking him slightly. Lucifer cried out and flexed his large wings and flew back from the two.

"I clearly underestimated you Leingod."

"Yeah you did that last time too." Ronyx grimaced and taunted Lucifer.

"You're nothing more than a petty demon, devil boy!" belittling his name.

Lucifer smiled, "Come at me." Fayt and Ronyx looked at each other and shrugged and ran at him. Lucifer waved his hands and then Fayt stopped moving.

"Shit!" Fayt cried. Ronyx looked back, the moment's hesitation gave Lucifer enough time to attack Ronyx. Ronyx twisted his head around and acrobatically leapt backwards but Lucifer caught Ronyx on his shoulder.

"Damn," Ronyx swore as he gritted his teeth. "Fayt why can't you move?"

"I don't know! I just can't! Lucifer must be using some sort of programming function to freeze me!"

Ronyx swore and looked over at Alistair who was watching from afar. He looked from Alistair to Lucifer, who looked back at him then back to Alistair, then smiled. "Shit," Ronyx muttered under his breath. Lucifer suddenly shot towards Alistair and Ronyx put on a burst of speed and moved twice as fast and was able to put himself in between Lucifer and Alistair in time. "Run you fool!" Ronyx yelled.

Alistair didn't need to be told twice and ran the other way. Ronyx didn't waste a second and swung his sword at Lucifer's head and paried with the butt of his scythe. Ronyx blasted Lucifer with a burst of energy and released a flurry of blows to his neck and hip. Lucifer got struck in his hip about 2 inches deep and he cried out. Ronyx released a quick 'whoop' of excitement as he lunged and the tip of his sword penetrated about 3 inches.

Lucifer pulled away and then whispered a couple words as a few purple symbols covered his wounds and they were good as new. "Hey that's not fair!" Ronyx complained.

Lucifer smirked but looked over to Alistair, "Alistair Kenny, you're emotions are conflicted. Tell me why?"

"What are you talking about?" he barked in response.

"You, the teenage prodigy of the Federation. Suddenly this young gunslinger comes out of nowhere and him and his posse start taking over and overshadowing you. Don't you feel angry? Don't you wish you had power like them?"

"Don't listen to him Alistair! He can't give you real power!" Ronyx yelled. But Alistair wasn't listening, he seemed to be on a distant planet. His eyes were looking off in the distance, and his face depicted a deep and longing hunger. He seemed to be in a trance-like state.

"You could become a great Federation hero just like you're father before you. You could restore the Federation, instead of playing second-fiddle to Fayt," Lucifer said, as he attempted to entice Alistair.

"Alistair don't! You're ancestors fought to protect the Eternal Sphere, not destroy it! If you follow Lucifer you will become his agent of destruction!" Fayt cried, still immobilized. Alistair turned to look at Fayt and his eyes were hollow, Fayt couldn't see the man he once knew.

"Sorry Fayt, I'm gonna restore the Federation and get rid of this abomination you've created. We as humans are the greatest race to have existed, but now you are hindering our progress of reaching that berth and clinching what is rightfully ours by negotiating peace with non-humanoid races. It disgusts me!" he spat.

"Ronyx stop him!" Fayt cried.

"With pleasure," Ronyx replied. Ronyx charged up an immense load of power and disappeared in a blur and appeared behind Alistair and was about to cut him into two pieces but the earth suddenly shot upwards and encased Ronyx in a stone tomb. Ronyx attempted to move but was suddenly thrown backwards as a pulse of energy extracted him from his tomb.

"Damn…" Ronyx muttered as he shook off pieces of earth. As his vision slowly returned to him he saw Lucifer injecting Alistair with a pink liquid. Ronyx got back onto his feet and shook his head. "What have you done Lucifer?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You know as well as I that if you give that code to individuals within the Eternal Sphere that aren't designated by the Eternal Spehere's game engine it can kill them!"

"W-Who are you?" Lucifer inquired.

"Heh, you're not the sole creator of the Eternal Sphere Luther, you'd be naïve to think you are the only one capable of writing code for this program? You hired multitudes of prgrammers any of them could have written code into the system that you weren't aware of. The Hero Algorithm was designed as a balance that randomly selected individuals to do good in the Eternal Sphere. It would come up to balance and mitigate disturbances in the Eternal Sphere if certain evil characters sought to conquer it. You can't upset that balance!"

"Blair wrote you in didn't she?"

"I honestly don't know who wrote my existence into being. To be even more honest it is plausible to say that the algorithm has transended being a set of numbers and functional values of you're creation it has become alive. It has given rise to individuals like Fayt, Maria, who can now cross into your domain. You can't just destroy all of this! It is no longer yours to control Lucifer! And you can't be involved in manipulating individuals like Alistair. Why can't you just let the Eternal Sphere be?"

Fayt listened on, immobilized still, but was puzzled at Ronyx's words. Ronyx once told him that his gene had evolved and as a result Ronyx was created to create a balance to prevent Fayt from going too crazy. But it seemed that Ronyx was bigger than that , it was as if he was a higher being altogether with knowledgeable of the programming of the Eternal Sphere. Also, Lucifer's spell didn't work on Ronyx…so there must be something protecting Ronyx

"Enough!" Lucifer yelled, he cast a protective barrier around Alistair and slashed open two rifts from which Enforcers flew out of. "Shitfuck," Ronyx muttered. He easily dispatched the first two that attacked him but cried out as one caught him with its claw. Ronyx was battered to the side and landed next to Fayt.

Fayt looked upon his doppleganger, helpless. _It can't end like this, despite everything my father did to protect the Eternal Sphere_. Lucifer and his Enforcers were closing in on them, but Albel came flying out of nowhere and yelled, "Palm of Destruction!" and landed atop the lead Enforcer and dug his palm into its skull until the swirling vortex of energy disintergrated the Enforcer's head.

"You owe me one Leingod, and whoever the hell you are maggot," Albel sneered as Ronyx smiled back weakly.

"Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine?" Albel didn't turn to rebuttle as Lucifer was close.

"Albel Nox, do you crave power?"

"Save it fool, I'm gonna cut you up into ribbons and feed you to the dragons," he replied coolly. Lucifer seemed stunned but immediately swung his scythe at Albel who parried the blow and sidestepped to avoid the blow. Lucifer cast a spell and Albel stumbled as he felt the Earth beneath him shift. He jumped to his left as the ground beneath him crumbled away. Albel swore and cursed him.

Albel observed his surroundings to see if there was anything he could utilize to his advantage, but before he could even move Lucifer cast the same spell he did on Fayt, and Albel was immobilized. "DAMN IT!" Albel roared.

Lucifer laughed then peered over at the dome of energy that encased Alistair. "He should be about ready," Lucifer hummed as he lifted the barrier and revealed Alistair, who was laying on the ground, scrunched up in a tight ball. He began to stir and began to move, slowly got up and blinked twice.

"I feel powerful," Alistair said slowly, as he looked at his hands and arms.

"Would you like to do the honors Alistair?" Lucifer asked.

Alistair looked at Fayt, Albel, and Ronyx he charged up his energy, swirling balls of red energy formed in his hands, then he shot them at a distant rock formation and it blew up.

"I gave you the gene of 'Deletion' now delete these flawed pieces of code." Alistair smiled sinisterly, and repositioned his hands and pointed the m at the three as he charged up energy.

"I don't think so!" a female voice cried as huge pillars of ice surged towards Alistair and Lucifer. One pillar struck Lucifer in his wings while Alistair blew it up with a surge of his new found energy. It caused the pillars to implode sending ice spikes flying towards Alistair and Lucifer at high speeds, impossible to dodge.

The ice spikes impaled the pair and in numerous locations, just missing their vitals. Meanwhile the blue headed female rushed over to the guys and casted two symbols as they regained mobility.

"I should have remembered that I'd need you're alteration gene to properly damage Lucifer, or even move for that matter!" Fayt said as he regained movement of his limbs.

"You're not getting away this time Lucifer!" Maria cried and cast three symbols that enveloped Lucifer in a grey shroud.

"What did you do to him?" Ronyx grunted. Maria looked at Fayt's blond doppleganger, and was shocked.

"W-What the there are two of you?" Fayt said he would explain later. "At any rate I altered Lucifer's data as he is hooked up to the Eternal Sphere. He is no longer a 4D being, but a mortal…and killable individual in the Eternal Sphere," she said grimly.

"Nice, now let's get this guy. We…lost Alistair to him, he enticed him with power, Alistair is now an agent of the Creator," Fayt said grimly. Maria nodded in response, she altered the soles of her feet removing the friction from her feet to move quicker across the ground. Fayt led the charge, still fresh full of energy. He charged up his sword and struck at Lucifer and broke his scythe, which he raised in a feeble attempt to block the strike.

Lucifer definitely seemed more beatable now. Lucifer blasted Fayt with a beam of energy which knocked Fayt off balance. But Albel jumped forward and lunged with his katana, impaling Lucifer on his torso. Alistair recovered from the ice spikes and his arms transformed into Enforcer claws as he raised his claws and red symbols appeared on the ground next to him.

Two Convictors appeared and flung themselves at Ronyx. Ronyx sprouted golden energy wings and encased himself within them as the Convictors attacked him then hooked one of the Convictor's legs and brought it crashing to the floor. He charged his sword with energy and plunged it into the heart of the Convictor. It shriked in pain as it laid as a lifeless from. The second convictor put two deep gashed in Ronyx's left arm. Ronyx staggered and threw his right arm across as he slashed the Convictor's arm off.

Albel jumped into the fray and then stabbed at the Convictor's torso and stuck his sword in it. Then he jumped over the Convictor and blew its head off with a shotgun blast, from a point blank range.

Meanwhile Fayt was dueling with Lucifer, he had brandished both swords and each were shining like starlight while Lucifer was frantically dodging.

"How are you more powerful than me? I created you?"

"Sometimes you can't predict the scope of you're creations," Fayt grinned. He feinted to the right and then found an opening and slashed his second wing off. Lucifer grunted.

"alright Leingod let's end this, red pillars of energy formed around Lucifer and began to swirl around him and then shifted vertically then morphed into one spinning drill-like blob of energy that shot towards Fayt."

"You've interfered long enough!" Fayt cried. A web of symbological runes covered the ground around him as a blue orb beagn to pulsate in front of his skull. A beautiful angelic woman appeared in front of him and then a cosmic blue ray of energy, crackling with thunder shot forward to meet the swirling red drill. Symbological runes swirling around the ray spun at such a rapid speed. The burst shot right through the drill and hit Lucifer dead on, his body became encased in symbols as he fell to his knees and looked up at the stars.

Maria was locked in combat with Alistair and conjured an ice barrier to block his strike then she ran through it in a split second, her body passing through the solid wall like water. Alistair was caught off guard and Maria drove her palm into Alistair's skull and stopped the electric signals running through his brain. Alistair's gaze narrowed and had a dreamy stare as he slumped backwards into the sandy ground. Maria exhaled and looked over at Lucifer whose body was beginning to dissipate. Maria, Fayt, Albel and Ronyx walked over to him.

"Will he be gone for good this time?" Fayt asked.

"Technically. I loaded his full consciousness into the Eternal Sphere therefore we defeated his entire being. But the Eternal Sphere, our universe has already transcended its original programming, who knows what to expect?" Maria asked. All that was left of Lucifer was his head who seemed to be crying."

"Lucifer…is this…the end?" Fayt asked.

Lucifer laughed hoarsely, "It's just the beginning, the 4D government won't stop until the threat-you all- are eliminated. It's strange it's all so beautiful now the stars, why would I want to destroy everything that I created. I've spent the past 10 years if my life embedded in the Eternal Sphere or locked up in my office, I lost sight of the beauty if immaterial objects, nature, women…" he said softly as he looked at Maria.

"Lucifer, I'm sorry," Fayt said.

"Don't be Fayt…it was truly my own folly. We 4D beings, we have all lost sight of the beauty of nature our society is so riddled in technology. Fayt…my creation. When they finally do come, teach them. Try and re-teach them the beauty of nature, the importance of life. Try and teach them what you taught to me, that everyone has a right to live because you clearly just aren't sets of data anymore. I also apologize to Alistair for robbing him of his freedom…" Lucifer closed his eyes and then in the blink of an eye he was no more.

Fayt looked down at the ground then over to where Alistair lay, but he wasn't there. Fayt scanned the area and saw Alistair stepping through the Time Gate portal. He stopped and looked over his shoulder, "Leingod I am going to 4D space and negotiate terms with our creators. I will offer to destroy you all in exchange for our freedom, then I will restore the galaxy under the banner of the Federation and fulfill my legacy is a Kenny. Next time we meet Leingod, I will destroy you."

Fayt nodded, "I'll be waiting until then. But when you do, I will try and save you as even Lucifer found the error of his ways." Alistair scoffed and disappeared behind the Time Gate. Fayt sighed and looked at his companions and smiled. Ronyx nodded and soon fused back together with Fayt.

"You got some explaining to do about Ronyx," Maria said.

"Yeah you fool. I can't handle two worms like you, how am I ever supposed to surpass you?" Albel spat.

Fayt chuckled. "So I'm not keeping count of anything but I think we saved the Universe a third time right?"

Maria laughed, "Well according to you this is only my second since I was captured last time." Fayt snorted.

"Let's go home guys," Fayt said simply. The _Justice Avenger _beamed them up and they found Sophia and Nel waiting for them in the transporter room. "Nel handle the bridge until further notice. It's been a long day."

Nel nodded as they all trouped to their crew quarters. Fayt wearily walked back to his and Maria's cabin. Maria had momentarily returned to the bridge to prepare a report for Cliff. Fayt grabbed his datapad and analyzed logistics from the previous battle. Of the 50 men he led to Styx he had lost 25. Of the 200 ships of the combined 7th and 8th fleets they'd lost 50 and had recovered 75 of 300 ships from the 18th fleer.

The numbers began to swirl around his head and made it hurt, he heard a knock outside his cabin and he stood up and went to see who was at the door. He cracked his neck and opened the door to find a grim-looking Thomas Kenny.

"Staff Sergeant Kenny," Fayt said, the last name reminding him of Alistair's betrayal. He examined his face, and felt a chill as he saw a similar face which had pronounced his death upon their next untimely meeting.

"Sir, is it true?" Thomas asked point-blank, with a hard and serious face.

"I'm not quite sure I what you are referring to Kenny."

"Sir, you know," he said, obviously struggling with the fact his brother had betrayed the Galactic Council.

"Yes, it's true," Fayt said, unable to look him in the face.

"Sir, why can't you look me in the face," Kenny replied, still at attention but his tone was haggard.

"Are you here to harm me?" Fayt replied calmly. He lifted his arms in a position of resignation and said, "do it."

Thomas looked at him incredulously and looked as if he was conflicted between shooting Fayt or embracing him, and instead broke down in tears, embracing Fayt.

"Sir I apologize, I hope you don't think ill of me! Brother has shamed our family name, I beg you do not think less of me because of him. I will re-assign to another unit if you want me to sir," he cried as he was on his knees now punching the floor, cursing Alistair.

"Kenny, get up," Fayt said and sat him on his couch in his room. Fayt patted Thomas on the shoulder as he peered at a picture of himself and Maria. They had taken it after he had proposed to her and smiled inwardly to himself.

"Thomas, you must remember one thing. You are not your brother, throughout your life you lived in his shadow. Your parents expected you to follow in his footsteps and perhaps even surpass him if possible. But you are not your brother, you will be the best you you can be. You will decide your own fate. But I must stress that your brother is a good man, who was simply misled. It happens to the best of men and Alistair had a great ambition to prove himself to you, to you're parents, to everyone, and unfortunately that included me. He saw the power Lucifer offered as a way to achieve this."

Thomas sniffled, "You are truly a great man Commander Leingod, you are constantly sacrificing yourself for the betterment of others and for that I admire you. You, who have all the power in the universe could have easily taken the lead job to lead the Galactic Council…opted to lead men in the frontlines."

"You flatter me, but I'm only doing what I'm sure what my father wanted me to do, he gave me powers to protect the Eternal Sphere, to protect the lives of the innocent here because he believed that despite we were only streams of data. The emotions of every code of data were real and precious enough to safeguard. Always try to protect what you hold dear Thomas, always, and I guarantee that you will keep a hold of your sanity."

Thomas nodded and wiped his tears. "Sir I would like to take an extended leave on Earth let the situation blow over. I'll probably get a lot of stick from the other soldiers and I don't want to cause any political unrest in the meantime. Besides mother and father will probably need my moral support."  
"That would be wise, I wouldn't allow the men to discriminate you for that, but we have to save face in this situation. We will be traveling back to Earth for now, you can depart from us then."

"Sir!" Thomas replied, gave him a salute and exited the Cabin. Thomas saluted to a figure on the way out, who happened to be Maria. "M'am," he said and walked off.

"What did he want?" Maria asked him.

"He was just asking about his brother," he replied sadly, resuming his analysis of the battle. Maria unbuttoned her coat and placed it in the clothing bin to be washed. She put on a white shirt and sat next to Fayt. Fayt considered his question for a moment then placed his datapad to the side. "Did we make the right decision?"

"Doing what? Killing Lucifer?"

"No that was a necessity. Through his death he found peace. I mean this, taking up military positions. We are growing too powerful you, me, even Sophia."

"You're right. But you're mother needs us Fayt."

"You're right, but remember what you told right after we had beaten Luther? You disbanded Quark because you didn't want to be interfering with anyone's decisions because we would be just like him, meddling in lives. Isn't that what we are doing?"

"I have similar doubts Fayt…" Maria said, still holding back.

"What happened to going somewhere no one knows us growing old with someone, one of your 'candidates'" he teased as he grabbed her waist.

"Oh that does sound nice, do you know anyone who would accompany me?" Maria asked him. He looked at her as if hurt. "But seriously Fayt we have responsibilities to fulfill. And growing old is no longer a possibility," Maria ended, sadly.

Fayt pulled her close to him, "Why don't we just let go of our responsibilities for a while at least…we can enroll back into classes, I think I'd like to take a stab at Symbological Genetics now."

Maria closed her eyes and allowed her to feel safe in Fayt's arms. "Hmm, that would be an appropriate field, I've always been fascinated by modern architecture…why don't we go back, be normal for a change?'

"Exactly, heck Sophia mentioned going back to study politics…and I'm technically still a student at the Bachtein Science University."

"Such a good schoolboy you were too, always playing videogames instead of studying," she teased.

"Hey it paid off didn't it? It gave me the battle skills I needed to save the universe!" Maria laughed at him as she snuggled closer to him and they fell asleep in each other's arms

* * *

Hope you all enjoyed it! We'll see where this takes us! These stories are meant to lead up to my sequel to Hero's Beginning, which is a great read btw if you haven't read it already! R&R


	4. When Does it End?

Disclaimer: You already know tho.

* * *

Fayt was walking among a sea of dark shadows, he saw the Time Gate behind him, but he wasn't on Planet Styx. Then he heard a large screeching sound and thousands of Convictors suddenly appeared in front of him. He brandished his swords and fought them off but he was soon drowning in a sea of them…then he awoke in his cabin.

He bolted upright and felt beads of sweat on his back and forehead, he looked around the dark cabin, Maria lay down next to him, calmly sleeping. The lump that was Maria slowly rose up and down as she inhaled and exhaled. Fayt brushed aside one of his hairs and observed Maria's peaceful face. He grabbed a cloth on his bedside and wiped the perspiration off his body and he looked at her intently and was amazed at how beautiful she looked.

Her porcelain skin, her nose which always scrunched up when she was mad at him, her silky-cerulean hair; everything about her seemed to be perfect in that moment. He tore his gaze away from her and lay back down on the bed and looked up at the ceiling.

_When was it going to end? He wanted to just take Maria away to some habitable backwater planet and live there amongst the natives, where no one could find them. He hadn't had too many quality moments with her since the bloody struggle for the capital. His thoughts wandered back to their children. When they did have children he wanted to raise them on Earth, to grow up with people of their kind, but how would they expect to live normal lives? People may fear them or try to harm them, harm them in fear of them. And what kind of future would they have? They'd probably be even more powerful than either him or Maria, would they be condemned to protecting the universe? He didn't want them to grow up with the expectation to living up to a 'family name' as Alistair, Thomas, or Eric had._

Fayt thought about more things but soon found himself asleep once more and was being awoken by Maria a little later.

"Get up sleepy head, we're back outside Earth's orbit, we have a meeting with your Mother, Cliff, and Mirage later." Fayt groaned and fell back onto the bed. Fayt got up about a half an hour, much in part due to Maria's further scolding. He groggily brought himself to the bathroom and looked at himself.

He still looked pretty much the same, but his arms seemed more defined, his face more angular than before and he was starting to grow a beard. _Hmm blue 5o'clock shadow…_Fayt thought bemusedly as he turned the water on and ran his razor through the stream of water to wet the blade. Fayt wet his hair and began to comb it back, slicking it back. He curiously peered around the room to locate his clothes, but found that he forgot it on the bed.

He carefully lifted the finely pressed beige uniform, and put the clothes on, they felt tight in some places, but Fayt thought he was looking pretty sharp. He straightened the high collars and adjusted the colorful badges adorned on his chest; he sighed and made for the bridge. He passed by numerous soldiers on the bridge, all saluting him as they saw him.

_Man a lot of these guys are older than me…I can't believe all these men answer to me_. Fayt soon reached the bridge and the door slid open mechanically, the officers acknowledged his presence with a salute or modest greeting of 'captain'. He sat in his Captain's Chair, next to Maria and gave her a quick smile as he sat down.

"Glad to see you finally up," she muttered from behind a datapad.

"Hello, Good morning Fayt, how are you? Splendid, thank you honey, and yourself?" he asked with a grin. She scoffed at him and blew a raspberry, "What are you reading?"

"Various economic journals and articles surrounding Galactic Council politics, just to brush up on current events so I'm not lost once we engage in this game of politics we love and know."

"Anything new? Anyone we know?"

"Well Mirage just passed a new Trade Bill, you're mother has also passed a new education reform bill, and Cliff was apparently spotted with an intern a couple nights ago."

"Uh-what? I thought he and Mirage were back together?"

"Yeah…Cliff had commitment issues." Fayt sighed and thanked his assistant as he was brought a cup of coffee. "Any news on Alistair?" he asked grimly, hoping for a negative response.

"Thankfully..no. The galaxy seems pretty quiet right now, however the star systems which refused to join the Galactic Council have been reportedly interacting frequently as of late. However, they aren't mobilizing against us which is good." Fayt nodded and looked about for Albel and Nel, nowhere to be found…probably still asleep.

The pilot motioned to Fayt that they were getting a transmission from HQ. "Patch them through."

A big and blond muscular man appeared on screen. "Well who the heck do you guys think you are?"

"Cliff cut the act," Maria said sternly.

"Seriously who are you guys? You're ship isn't registered in our mainframe, prepare to be decimated," the man said seriously as his face disappeared from the screen.

"He's kidding right…?" Fayt asked Maria, who just shrugged.

"Sir! We've been locked onto by multiple orbital cannons! They are charging their weapons! They are about to fire!"

"What?" Fayt cried. Fayt was about to blow up the cannons that had locked onto them then suddenly Fayt heard the bridge door slide open and then the cockpit was enveloped in gray smoke.

"What the-," Fayt coughed, shielding his face.

"Stay put you are all FUCKED!" a voice cried. Fayt felt a sword put to his back and he heard muffled screams all around him. He looked around for Maria but couldn't find her.

"Well Fayt Leingod, you have just been captured by the great, AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" the voice cried out.

"Really Cliff?" Maria asked as Fayt saw two blue lights to his right flicker and the grey smoke faded. Fayt looked to face his aggressor and a sniggering Albel looked at him and shrugged. Nel was standing above the pilot who was curled into a fetal position, and then he saw Cliff standing right in front of him, with a look on his face which said…'oh'.

"General Fittir, may I ask why you attempted to sack my crew?" Fayt asked coolly.

"Uhhhhhhh, come on guys if you think about it, this is a really funny situation…"

"Yeah I think its pretty humorous you worms!" Albel cried breaking out in hysterical laughter.

"How exactly…?" Maria asked.

"W-Well, come on guys it's a joke! We haven't seen each other in a long time and I just thought a practical joke would lighten the mood! And besides I gotta let my subordinates know that I mean business," he said confidently as he punched his palm, his customary gesture.

Fayt and Maria were silent, then Maria began to fold her cuffs back and began to count. "3….2…" she counted simply.

"C-come on you guys it was a joke," Cliff hopelessly pleaded with Fayt.

"Sorry buddy, I wouldn't dream getting in her way," Fayt said, shaking his head.

"It was Albel's idea!"

"Fool!" he cried and unsheathed his katana.

"I-It was Nel's plan!" Cliff cried frantically.

"You're dead."

"It was Mirage's….?"

"Run," Maria said deathly.

"Mommy," Cliff whimpered and ran off the bridge to the nether-regions of the ship, then the three of them-Nel, Maria, and Albel ran after the poor guy. Fayt laughed and shook his head as a new figure appeared on the screen, his mother.

"Fayt, why haven't you docked yet?"

Fayt laughed, "Uh our Grand General got side tracked, President Leingod can you grant us access to dock?"

His mother nodded and gave them clearance. "See you in a bit son," as she blew him a kiss." Fayt blushed as he heard a couple of his officers snigger. Fayt stuck his tongue out at his crew, he laughed with them as he exited the bridge. _I am gonna miss this ship and crew for awhile_ he sadly thought of his plans of trying to lead a 'normal' life. He shook his head, he _had_ to do it, he needed a break from the fighting. He had lost count of the number of lives he had taken and couldn't bear to think about it.

He knew it would be tough to break it to his mom, but it was a decision he was confident about he wanted to spend time with Maria and more importantly pursue a future career, he couldn't fight for the remainder of his life. His feet had finally brought him to the hangar where Cliff's shuttle and Sophia's luxury cruiser stood in front of him. The rest of the crew had already piled into the shuttle he was about to enter it, but Maria called to him.

He spun around and saw her walking at a brisk pace toward him, her hair tight in a bun. "Making a choice?" she asked as she pointed to the two ships, as if reading his mind. "No, just waiting for you, to make the correct decision together," he said as he tightly grasped her hand. She smiled and they boarded the ship. Fayt and Maria took a seat towards the back, and Maria laid her head on his shoulder and he smiled.

Cliff turned around as the ship lifted off, "Awww thooo cuteee!" he said in a baby voice.

Maria's head lifted off Fayt's shoulder and shot Cliff a death stare, which silenced him, as she replaced her head in its previous spot. Fayt exhaled as the ship entered Earth's atmosphere. Last time he had been here he came as a conqueror. His heart leapt when he saw the beautiful ocean which ran for miles on end, seagulls soaring in the distance, and the tremulous waves crashing and forming.

The Earth seemed to be brighter than the last time he was here; he couldn't tell if it was a psychological effect, with the absence of the Wise Men. They soon loomed upon New York City, now known as the Federal City. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and was as blue as Fayt's head. The tall skyscrapers and the hovercars populated the skies, and the Statue of Liberty stood as proud and tall as before. Somehow it had escaped harm during the previous invasions. To the left he spotted the Planetary Defense Building, a domed structure with a long cannon extending into the heavens, the Federal Tower next to it and the Council building in its solitary and regal majesty 40 miles to the west.

The shuttle entered the city's limits and Fayt looked on in wonder at the tall spires of the buildings, and the bustling activity, he had missed his home. Maria was similarly speechless as she had lived away from Earth for most of her life. "I've only read about modern architecture, but I'd like to see modern cities such as Tokyo, Beijing, Rome…If it's anything as beautiful as these structures…" she said, her voice fading.

Their shuttle was close to the Federal Tower now; the entire Federal Square had been repaired since and had been heavily fortified since then. The entire complex was now shielded by the same symbological shielding they had given to their soldiers. However, on a much bigger scale, Maria had designed it with the help of Fayt's mother, and could withstand multiple bombardments from even 4D enemies.

The shuttle had to wait for clearance before the force field was lowered and the shuttle touched down in an empty lot next to ground artillery vehicles. Their crew exited the ship and Fayt smiled as he took a breath of fresh Earth air.

Maria took a breath and frowned. "What's wrong Maria?" Fayt asked.

"Well I just noticed the concentration of Nitrogen and Oxygen molecules, now that I am more attuned with my alteration gene," Fayt sighed and shook his head. He just didn't know what to say when she got too technical.

Albel sniffed at the air, "Smells fine to me you fool." Maria shot him a dirty glance but Fayt snickered in the background as they made their way to the Federal Tower. As they passed through the front glass doors the group looked around to examine the ongoing repairs that were transpiring even after 6 months since they had recaptured the city. They surrendered their weapons momentarily as they passed through security.

They were in the large atrium of the Federal Tower, substantial amounts of sunlight poked into the atrium because all the walls were made entirely of glass which gave the place a very modern feel. Fayt examined a new addition to the atrium, a fountain with a large transluscent sphere set in the middle, from which the water spouted. Golden rings encompassed the sphere and a small inscription could be read on the fountain.

It read: 'In honor of those that sacrificed their lives for the Eternal Sphere. We are in debt to their souls, for their sacrifice for the Star Ocean'. He smiled and was sure it had been his mother's doing. He was glad that she hadn't explicitly named Fayt or his companions. Maria beckoned for him to catch up as they piled into the elevator which took them to the top floor.

Fayt adjusted his collar and cuffs, Maria straightened her suit, and the rest did the same. By some faint miracle, they had gotten Albel to wear a military uniform, which involved a couple sedatives…long story short, he didn't dress quietly. The elevator creaked to a stop and there was a high pitched 'ding' and a cool voice announced their arrival at the top floor.

Fayt lead the way out and entered the Presidential Office, with a single desk towards the windows, piled with papers upon it, and a large armchair behind it, facing away from them. The chair swiveled toward them and a middle-aged lady with blue hair sat comfortably upon it, with half-moon spectacles, reading a very important-looking file. Her eyes shifted from the file to them and seemed to analyze each and every one of them.

"So you are all back in one piece," she said seriously. They nodded in the affirmative, she clapped her hands and then chairs and a long table materialized on front of them. They were all immensely impressed, and took their respective seats.

"Commanders Leingod and Traydor, I would like your respective accounts of the events that have transpired since you're departure," she said, in the same serious tone. Fayt began to explain about their encounter on Rylen, their first encounter with the Executioners. Albel interjected into the story, plugging in gaps which Fayt had not been present for. Maria shared her account with Maverick and his 'horse-play' with the princess. Then they finished up with their most recent adventure on Styx, and gave her the unabridged story about Alistair. Sophia wrapped things up with her recent negotiations, and how they had been, for the most part, successful.

"Hmm. Interesting, I do not have further intel on the matter for now. Alistair's loss was a tremendous blow right Cliff?"

"Yes m'am. You see we were about to promote him to Admiral, Admiral Hermes, who directed the fleet during Luther's attack not Lucifer's, is getting up there in age. And clearly, he failed to address the matter at the time, although he did his best given the circumstances. Once the Eternal Sphere was re-programmed we decided we needed to give Hermes a good 'retirement package' so to speak. We wanted to promote a young officer with experience, and Alistair was the first choice, after well Fayt or Maria of course," Cliff ended, the pair frowned at each other.

"Yes, so that is a minor setback that will be addressed quickly, as we reconsider our candidates. Concerning politics, the governmental structure has developed quite well and we have smoothed out trade agreements, various laws, educational standards,etc. Mirage has been quite excellent on the Defense Council and she has been a highly valuable correspondent. Unfortunately, she couldn't make it today because of her various duties," Mrs. Leingod said and looked at the rest of her notes, thinking of other points she wanted to touch upon.

"Right then, advancing to the 4D issue. So Fayt you said you all defeated the 'Creator' once and for all. But, we have bigger issues as the 4D government now has jurisdiction of the Eternal Sphere?"

"That is correct President Leingod. And given our limited information on the 4D governmental infrastructure, it is like fighting an enemy in the dark. We now know that they can't just wipe us out or delete us all in one fell swoop. They have to work internally within the Eternal Sphere, and kill us using means that exist within our dimension. But we don't know whether 4D space is on a planet or if it is just space that extends infinitely. We don't know if other intelligent life forms exist."

"Right. Well that means infiltration of 4D space and procuring further data will be necessary," Ryoko Leingod mumbled and typed a note to herself. Fayt shifted uneasily in his chair, _that_ would require Maria's involvement. Fayt peered out the window and got lost in the clear blue sky as his mother corresponded with the rest of his companions.

"Alright, that is about it," Cliff said as they all got up to leave. The majority had left the room but Maria and Fayt hung back and Fayt's mom kept her eyes trained on the datapad in front of her and typed away furiously. Her eyes darted upwards and could be seen behind her spectacles she raised her eyebrow.

"Is there something else you needed from me Commanders?"

"Yeah mom…there's something really important we need to talk about."

Mrs. Leingod leaned back in her chair, stared blankly at them for a second, then smiled widely, "You've decided on a date then! Good we have to start planning immediately!"

"No, Mrs. Leingod we haven't decided on a date!" Maria exclaimed as her cheeks flushed a hot pink. Mrs. Leingod's smile vanished and looked puzzled.

"Mom…I-we, we wanted some time off from the job."

"I see. Good, I thought you'd never ask, as you're mother I do worry about you you know. And I know I am an in exalted position now and that we often refer to each other very objectively, but I still love you son, both of you," she said, as tears began to form in her eyes. Maria seemed taken aback, and quickly rushed to her and embraced her.

"I know I demanded a lot from the two of you, but I just thought you needed to work and though I'd- I don't know, I;ve been extremely foolish."

"No mom it's just—we love what we do! We have powers—powers that others lack and we have a responsibility to use them for the benefit of others. And besides I promised the Galactic Council; the Universe that I would ensure peace and stability to this developing association. But, Me and Maria, we're still human mom. We want to be normal, be with each other, spend time with one another…with our friends and family. We've both really wanted to go back to school lately—you know develop professional careers…besides swinging swords and shooting guns. We've been uncovering new mysteries with our genes and believe we could really do some great things and benefit others in a different way!"

Ryoko Leingod removed her glasses and looked upon her son and beamed, she looked at Maria and smiled, "You two have become more than Robert or I ever imagined. Not only have you become extremely powerful and justified our atrocities. But you have both matured into responsible individuals," she sniffled then replaced her glasses. "What kind of mother would I be to deny you to go to school," she asked smiling.

"I love you mom," Fayt said and hugged her. Maria hugged her too.

"You're gonna be a wonderful daughter-in-law," she whispered. She stood up and dispelled the rest of her tears and smiled, "I always wanted a daughter you know? Robert was ecstatic when Fayt popped out, but I've always wanted a little girl"

Maria laughed, "I've lacked a mother-figure my whole life. I-I could use one, although, I'm not so little anymore," Maria said, struggling to keep a straight face.

"Fayt got lucky, to have such a beautiful girl, don't mess it up," she scolded at him. ."

Fayt scratched his head, "I don't know if it's really luck mom, I mean we have technically known each other since birth."

Fayt's mom shrugged, "Well at any rate I'm glad you chose her," she gasped and clasped a hand to her mouth.

"Chose?"

"Well I mean, alright well for the longest time I feared you would choose Sophia…"

"Mom! This is really awkward now…" Fayt said, at a loss for words.

Maria simply laughed, "So this is what family is like?"

Fayt shrugged, "Yup, people you share awkward moments with that become acceptable. Oh and people to embarrass you."

Mrs. Leingod laughed, "You just wait Fayt till I break out the baby pictures." She rummaged through her pocket and threw Fayt a set of keys. It was a small circular black remote control with a badge of a horse and yellow background.

"No way," Fayt whispered.

"What is it?" Maria asked.

"You know where the apartment is right, the penthouse suite we used to go to when we stayed here in the Federal City? There are some leftovers in the fridge and I'll be home by 8," she said sweetly and returned to her desk and continued her work.

"No freaking way."

"What is it!" Maria hissed as she peered at the small remote control that seemed to be the key of a transport vehicle of some sort

Fayt smiled and grabbed her hand, "I'll show you. Looks like I won't be driving the Station Hover Craft to school anymore huh mom?"

"Consider it a…early wedding gift,' she shrugged and waved goodbye.

"It's gonna be fun driving to school," he said giddily as Maria followed him with a confused expression.

They exited the room and then found their companions waiting for them, Nel approached first and asked, "What's up guys, what did you need to talk about in private with Fayt's mom?"

Cliff jumped up, "No way…" he whispered, with a giddy expression on his face.

Maria shook her head, "No we haven't set a date, guys we have to tell you something. Fayt and I are planning to take a break from all this chaos."

Cliff, Nel and Maria seemed surprised but Sophia merely nodded, "I understand, I'm going back to school too, whilst retaining my ambassador position."

"B-But Fayt, how am I gonna survive this job here? You and Maria were two of my best Commanders," Cliff refuted.

"Cliff, I'm sorry but you'll find a way to cope I'm sure, and we'll still be here whenever you need us!" Maria replied.

"You weaklings!" Albel spat and stormed off.

"Albel!" Nel responded furiously. "Look I'm sure he's just upset, but seriously are you two sure? Especially with Alistair jumping ship and the impending 4D threat…"

"Look guys, we have to do this. We are still young and to be honest we've done so much already for this new galactic order, we just need to slow down the pace. I didn't forget about you guys either! You all can return to Elicoor for awhile if you need a break…"

That weakened Nel's resolve as she peered out the window and a wave of nostalgia flushed over her. "Hmm that doesn't sound bad, and Albel and I could use it."

"Exactly, we could all use a break," said Fayt.

"Alright, but then who's gonna look after Maverick and his gang? I can't have them upsetting the galactic stability we are trying to establish by having another incident," Cliff argued.

"Ahem you mean like banging the college intern," Maria replied.

Cliff shut up and put a wide grin on his face, "Best of luck to your studies!" he responded sweetly and shook their hands.

"Look its temporary, Fayt and I just think that we need to step out of the picture for a while, but we'll always be around should the need arise."

They all nodded and then Nel broke the silence, "Come on guys let's go find Albel." They found their 'Prince of Darkness' brooding in the atrium, leaning against a wall.

"Albel, what's up, why'd you get so angry?" Fayt asked.

"You worms are running away from the fighting." Fayt remained silent and knew there had to be a more pressing issue.

"It's just, you maggots taught me well values of companionship and team…teamwork…and Leingod, I hate to admit it but you are one powerful son of a bitch. And all this time I've been following you're leadership, where do I go from here?"

Fayt was stunned at the response he had elicited from Albel, he was about to answer but Nel said, "Albel I think it's a good idea for us to take a break too. We've been away from home for so long…and you seem to have lost yourself. Just as you are lost now and need to find your path, Fayt has to do this…to find his."

"We all need to find our individual paths," Maria said, "We've been together for so long we have taken for granted each other's company. We need this guys, and once we have found ourselves, we'll come back even better than before." Fayt extended a hand to Albel who seemed reluctant to grasp it at first, but to Fayt's surprise, he smiled and gave him a firm handshake.

That evening they conversed, reflected, drank…a lot and then said their goodbyes the forthcoming day. It would be a while before they were re-united again, but they needed time to find themselves, past what they were as a unit. Together, they were the saviors of the universe, but since then they hadn't had time to see how much they had grown individually. However, they couldn't be separated forever because great friends have eternal bonds between them that somehow pull them all back together.

And the Eternal Sphere would need their heroes once again…

* * *

Thanks for reading guys!


	5. We Needed This

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Ocean

Time to Check in with the gang after they went their separate ways

* * *

August 12th SD 773, Federal City; Lutina Towers.

Fayt scrambled to put on his blazer and picked a tie on top of a big pile of clothes he tied it hastily as he held onto the slice of toast in his mouth and looked at his watch "Shoot!" he cried and scrambled back to the bedroom and bellowed, "honey we're gonna be late!"

Maria burst out of the bathroom dressed in a comfortable looking blue hoodie and black leggings, "I'm coming!" she cried waving her arms hysterically in mid-air. She pulled on her backpack and exited the bedroom and picked up the extra slice of bread on the table.

Fayt pulled on some brown shoes and grabbed the car keys off the metal counter, "Luckily we've got one fast ride!" he cried as he exited the door.

Maria ran after him, "Wait honey can I drive this time?"

Fayt looked at her incredulously, "WHAATTTT? Woman you drove last time its my turn now!" he exclaimed furiously. Maria pouted but Fayt shook his head as they entered the elevator and hit the Ground floor button. They exited the lift and entered the lobby of their apartment and passed the front desk on the way out.

"Morning Mr. Leingod!" the man behind the desk cried.

"Morning Stan!"

"What will it be today? The Ferrari?"

"No Stan we'll use the Lambo today," he responded simply. Stan nodded and pressed a button on his computer screen.

"Have a great first day sir!"

They exited the apartment building and stood in front a blue pad in front of the apartment. Blue lights began to materialize and disrupt the air and a very high tech looking, black sportscar appeared in front of them. Fayt smiled as he strode over to the driver side of the car and stuck his tongue at Maria, and opened the driver-side door. The door slid upwards to a 90 degree angle and Fayt happily situated himself in the driver seat.

Maria grudgingly plopped herself on the passenger side and said, "You're sleeping on the couch tonight."

"Someone's bitter," Fayt replied as he put on some black sunglasses, "Relax, you can't be so strung out on your first day at college m'dear." He said as her pressed a button on the dashboard and the car roared to life. The car's dashboard lights flicked on as the steering column adjusted to Fayt's desired position and the seat slightly moved forward.

"Welcome Mr. Leingod," a cool voice said.

"Hello Sandy!" Fayt responded brightly.

"Sandy…you named the computer?" Maria asked sourly.

"Yeah, Sandy's great!"

"Hm, you're definitely sleeping on the couch tonight," Maria responded.

Fayt laughed as he gripped the steering wheel, "Worth every lumpy second."

"Is it worth not getting laid?" she mumbled.

Fayt gasped, "Babe! Don't even joke about that! Fayt Jr. can hear you!"

Maria snorted, "Yeah Fayt junior is veryyy junior…"

"Come on now Maria, you love _her_! She's mythical!"

"Did you just refer to your penis as a 'her'?"

"Of course! Man names all things as women like ships, countries, penises…" he laughed as he touched the car's control pad and set it to 'Terrestrial' mode which kept it on wheels rather than hover jets.

He hit the acceleration and the car jumped forward, he touched the control panel a second time and the top of the car disappeared. The car growled angrily like Albel on a bad hair day as he floored it.

Fayt had kept it in 'manual' mode and shifted gears and smiled as the car instantaneously shifted smoothly to the higher gear and it kicked forward at an even faster pace.

The car flew down the road, and was the only car on the ground road, as most of the cars were hovering above them.

"I bet no one has used these roads in ages!" Maria cried as they sped along and Fayt pulled the car into various slides and turns.

"So are you ready for class?" he asked.

"I don't know, I'm really excited though, I'm not sure if I want to go into Architecture or Symbological Genetics…"

"Well good thing is you don't have to really decide right now, however Bachtein University is known mostly for Symbological Science as well as Engineering, but the Architecture program is pretty solid as well!"

"Haha yeah well I want to decide quickly," she said with a smile and laid her head back against the seat. She tilted her head to look at Fayt, "We needed this didn't we?" she asked.

They'd been on 'vacation' for almost a month now and they couldn't be more relaxed. Cliff had been managing reasonably well without them and was reportedly close to filling the Admiral position. While Nel and Albel had visited Elicoor for a while but realized they couldn't find what they were 'searching' for so they took command of the 7th fleet in Fayt and Maria's absence.

The neighborhood began to clean up a little as they drove along and were in a newer sector of the city and were nearing the University's boundaries. Fayt pulled over to the side of the road before progressing forward, a block or two away from the University's entrance.

Fayt turned off the car's engine and leaned to his right and positioned his face, mere inches away from Maria's face and he grinned. Maria blushed and then pulled her head back.

"Hmph, you didn't let me drive!" she cried and crossed her arms angrily. Fayt just shot her a boyish grin which she disregarded and Fayt turned the engine back on and drove though the University's entrance.

* * *

Fayt sighed as he entered the lecture hall and reacquainted him with his surroundings. He had taken Principles of Biology in this same hall about 3 yearsprior. Both pre-requisites to Genetics…which opened up pathways to take higher 300 level courses in his selected major; Symbological Genetics. He was taking SYG341 with Professor Hall, he actually knew Professor Hall because he used to play tennis on the weekends with his father. They never worked together, they were actually both leading authorities on the field.

His father was more renowned, but he remembered his father working tirelessly night after night on a publication constantly exclaiming how he would 'prove Hall wrong' or 'better Hall's theory'. Their rivalry was a healthy one of course, Fayt had no doubt that he would probably pick on him during the class, nevertheless Fayt decided to sit in the third row. Fayt looked around trying to see if there were any of his old friends from his sophomore year, but he couldn't spot any.

Fayt removed his data tablet from his backpack and turned it on, it projected a keyboard screen for him to type on. He places his hand on it and the device gave a ring of approval and a cool female voice said… 'Welcome Fayt'. He proceeded to open files which contained notes from his previous classes. _Gosh I haven't looked at these in a while…I wonder…_ he thought as he read the notes. He began to slowly recall facts, but only tidbits, like the slow formation of a puzzle that stumped an individual half way through. He began to draw a blank and couldn't completely remember things.

_I can blow up a starship…but I can't even remember the composition of DNA…so much for the 'Destruction' Gene I wouldn't mind an 'Intelligence' gene or a 'Remember Everything you once learned' gene._ He shook his head and futily continued to look over his notes.

_What's wrong Fayt? _A voice asked him, Fayt looked up and around and looked for the source of the voice. _No you idiot inside you're head._ Fayt realized it was Ronyx and almost spoke out loud to rebuke him but refrained from doing so, saving himself the embarrassment.

_Hey Ronyx…it's just I'm back in class and I can't remember anything from my previous classes, it's been so long._

_Yawn..boring. Anyways, that won't be a problem for you._

_Oh really? How so?_

_You've got me of course!_

Fayt snorted and the student sitting next to him looked at him like he was a weirdo. _That's rich Ronyx but I don't think you'll be able to help me recall biology. Explain how…_ Fayt asked Ronyx as he looked at the question on the main screen… _DNA molecules are so stable._

_Oh ye of little faith. And challenge me why don't ya? The stability of DNA molecules are attributed to the Hydrogen Bonds that stabilize the structure. That also explains why a smear of DNA can remain in a single place for an undisclosed amount of time._

Fayt's jaw nearly dropped. _How the heck did you know that?_

_Easy, I'm magical._

_Well technically you are a higher being created by the Game Engine of the Eternal Sphere._

_Aww you're making me blush. But no, I got the answer from your brain. For all intents and purposes I am a manifestation of your consciousness which can take physical form. However, I am also embedded in your genetic code. It's very complicated, but essentially as a part of your consciousness I can pull information from the deepest recesses of your mind that you wouldn't ordinarily have access to._

_Mhm I see._

_Yep, I also found it very funny that you're mom used to dress you up in girl's clothing because she always secretly wanted a daughter but was in denial for the first three years when you could still pass off as a girl._ It took Fayt a second for the memory to register, but he remembered it clear as day and he blushed a deep, scarlet red.

_Haha. Shut up, class is starting._ Professor Hall entered the room and hobbled to his podium with an old leather briefcase. He was a short man with grey hair and a receding hairline. He was wearing an old tweed blazer which gave him a very 'grandpa' like look. Fayt diverted his attention back to his notes…and with Ronyx's help was able to recall numerous facts that came rushing back to him like a waterfall.

Fayt focused or pretended to focus extremely hard on his data tablet to avoid eye contact with Professor Hall. He pulled his legs in as a young woman with reddish brown and straight hair sat down in the vacant seat next to him. Fayt scanned the rest of the paper and chuckled to himself. Wasn't this like cheating? Though? He felt a slight tug of his shirt sleeve and looked to his left and the girl with brown hair was handing him a data tablet.

He accepted the tablet before his mouth dropped and was hanging off its hinges. The girl seemed equally astonished and her confused expression morphed to one of elation.

"Fayt Leingod!" the girl exclaimed. Fayt was speechless; the girl in front of him was his ex-girlfriend.

"K-Kate, hey how've you been?" he replied not knowing whether he should display elation or despair. Now Kate Lingard was the perfect girl that guys only dreamed of.

She was a Symbological Genetics and Finance Double Major, essentially she was a super genius. Her father is Morrison Lingard the owner of Lingard International, a series of global banking associates. They invested heavily in Federation war bonds, which translated over to the new Galactic Council. Besides being remarkably beautiful she is also the captain of the Varsity Women's Soccer team. How post-war Fayt ever landed this hottie is beyond even the author's comprehension.

"Not as well as you Mr. Savior of the universe!" she replied sweetly.

Fayt blushed and was unsure of what to say, "Well-uh you know- I uh do pushups," Fayt said lamely. "So how've you been Kate?"

"Haha I've been good, my studies have been good and we won the National Championship last year we might be going to the Galactic Championship next year. It is on Hyda IV after rebuilding is completed! Wait, didn't you like save that planet too?"

Fayt scratched his head, "Uh its pretty complicated actually…"

Kate laughed, "Fayt always the modest one, listen we should grab lunch after class!"

Fayt nearly fell off his seat, "Oh Kate uh I kind of have a girl-." Fayt was cut off as Professor Hall began his lecture. Kate just smiled at him and opened her data tablet and began to take notes. Fayt sighed, _this could be bad…._

Professor Hall began to introduce the syllabus to the class; meanwhile Fayt began to get fidgety. Professor Hall must've noticed because his eyes passed over Fayt and then his face clicked and he seemed to have an 'aha' moment.

"Well class, I believe we have a celebrity in the building!" he cried rather enthusiastically. He scurried over to Fayt, grabbed his arm and raised it in the air and made Fayt wave to everyone.

Fayt yelped as he was torn from his seat by the over-enthusiastic professor. "Mr. Leingod here is the son of a late colleague of mine. My condolences my boy," he said sadly and let Fayt fall back into his seat. Kate giggled at him and shook her head.

"So students, what is Symbological Genetics? Well we must return to the humble study of life, our humble origins as neandertals, Lucy, all the origins covered in your into biology courses. For our ancestry constitutes symbological genetics in its entirety. In the medieval times, stories of witches and wizards were not simply stories, these individuals had symbological powers, they just weren't acknowledged as such. There are many theories some suggest that all people had symbological powers back then, but then why were humans dormant during the dinosaur ages. Why were there hunters and gatherers if people could simply use 'magic'? A more realistic theory is that 'aliens' or rather humans came here from the nether regions of space, who possessed these powers. They formalized the stories of gods and deities, perhaps even laying the foundation for religion. Those that interacted with the natives of earth were sparse and scattered so the genes became diluted and unexpressed," Professor Hall paused and took a drink from his water bottle.

"Symbological Genetics is a fairly recent field of study which only surfaced with the beginning of the Space Date, we Earthlings used symbological genetics to explore new worlds and find resources to cure our aggrieved homeworld after the Third Nuclear World War. And most recently the largest advancement in symbological genetics have been used for warp drives, weapons, and most notably a secret or not so secret experiment now. I am referring to of course, Dr. Leingod's project with human subjects, the injection of symbological genes within humans. Which has now been banned by the Galactic Republic due to controvertial issues. Robert himself knew the risks, and only a true genius team can properly conduct the experiment with successful results," Fayt listened on as his professor continued talking.

Fayt glanced around at the students in the room; he wondered if anyone would dare reciprocate his father's experiment, he thought it wasn't _impossible._

_Now I see why the 4D space beings are afraid of us. Symbological genetics is being taught now, with education comes consciousness and questioning, all it takes is one crazy person to try and emulate dad's work._ _Ronyx, what if that does come to fruition?_

_Well I have to be honest with you, the Eternal Sphere's engine wouldn't prevent that, its code is so unpredictable now that a world full of symbological wielders may arise. Look at your friend Nel, there may be others out there, entire societies that openly wield symbology. All I know for sure is that the Sphere's programming would in turn find a way to balance that power._

Fayt nodded and resumed to listen to the lecture. "This class will begin with heritability of symbological genetics, or lack of it. Specific genes, how specific operons function and reasons as to why symbological genes aren't expressed even if they are there. This will eventually translate to isolating genes and studying them as well as their attributes and their properties. Then the next level is incorporating that into what we call 'human benefit' class dismissed." Hall ended as he returned to his podium.

Fayt joined quickly jumped into the crowd to avoid confronting Kate or Professor Hall. He exited the lecture hall and then let his consciousness leave his body as he expanded it across campus looking for Maria. He moved from mind to mind until he found a familiar and tightly guarded one by the Math building.

_Fayt!_ Maria cried.

_Meet me on top of Grithold Hall._ He told her telepathically.

_On top…?_ She couldn't see his face but she could tell he was giving her his sarcastic grin. She opened her communicator and opened up the campus map app she downloaded. She found Grithold hall on the map and started towards it. The building was a good 40 feet high and sighed, "Damn it Fayt you know I can't fly…" She entered the building and decided to take the elevator for a change.

The elevator didn't go all the way up so she just changed the makeup of her body to be able to pass through the ceiling, she found him sunbathing on the roof with shades on. She laid down next to him and gasped at the view, you could practically see the entire University.

"Glad you found your way up, I brought lunch," he said happily as he shoved a greasy bag towards her.

"Oh yay greasy burgers from the diner," she replied sarcastically.

"UH no, greasy burgers from the best burger joint in Manhattan," he shot back. She shot her tongue at him.

"So did you bring all the girls up here back then?"

Fayt blushed, "Just the important ones."

"Oh so there were multiple important girls?"

"Haha ouch I should have seen that coming, don't worry I never saw more than two girls at a time, and more importantly they were all before you."

"Well played Leingod. The view really is quite beautiful."

"Hm well I also brought you flowers," he replied and gave her a small branch of pink blossoms. "Picked em up by the University entrance."

"Fayt you certainly know how to flatter a woman. You're lucky I'm a secret romantic or else I'd say that plucking the flowers randomly was a cheap move."

"Haha interestingly enough a girl called me out for that once," they both laughed and Fayt embraced her and kissed her forehead.

"This is such a perfect moment," Maria said softly. Fayt only nodded in response as he opened up the bag and handed her a burger.

"Damn, these are pretty good," Maria replied, in genuine shock.

* * *

So there we go, but of course this peace doesn't last for long!


	6. Back in the Saddle

Disclaimer: I don't own star ocean

Wasn't really planning on making a set storyline, but I like how things are unfolding and things will lead to the next fic quite nicely, stay with me pleasee!

* * *

"So this is romantic," Nel said sarcastically as she clung to Albel tightly.

"Yup, you must really like me huh you worm?"

"Cut the crap Albel, I am only hanging onto you because we are fucking hanging over a really FUCKING high drop."

"I told you we should have taken the squad!"

"WOMAN! They would have slowed us down."

"Ok but you could have at least waited before I gave the signal. I had them where I wanted them."

"You were captured and surrounded by three hostiles, I rescued you."

"Well if you had waited a while longer I would have been able to get the location of where the rest of their asses are holed up."

"Oh well, at least I kicked ass!" Albel declared triumphantly. The pair argued for a while longer until they heard a voice call, "Over there!"

They both silenced, to wait and see who their would be saviors were as they soon saw Eric, Thomas, and Eva's heads pop just above the ledge.

"Maggots!" Albel swore at them.

"Oho, are we uh interrupting something?" Eric asked jokingly.

"Maverick, you better shut your shithole or ill shove my claw down it, out your ass and then make you polish my shoes!"

"Sir that made no sense."

"Really Albel, he does have a point there," Nel mumbled.

"Fools." He spat in response. The trio pulled the rope up which they were dangling upon. Once they had recovered them Nel asked them for a status report.

"Well M'am the leaders of the Arenite force are believed to be holed up in a fortress 40 miles North from our present location. There is a small village right outside of this fortress. They have military outposts about 30 miles out so a straight up attack will attract too much attention."

"This spy is causing us more trouble than we had thought," Albel growled, gritting his teeth. Some thief stole various security codes from the Federal Tower three weeks beforehand and they had tracked him to the Aremia system.

"Where is the rest of our force now?" Nel asked.

"We have two platoons of troops back at the battlefront before we lost you guys, they're still securing the area but we routed their forces."

"Good, Eric and Eva come with us, Thomas you return to the platoon and wait for further instructions, also coordinate with that maggot Kian."

"Roger," Thomas replied, he walked over to a hoverbike, next to two others and soon disappeared on the horizon."

"Sun's coming up," Nel said as she watched Thomas' figure disappear.

"Better head out," Eva suggested. They all agreed and got onto the hoverbikes, Albel and Nel on one; Eric and Eva on the other.

"You can get some rest you maggot, I'll wake you when we get to the village," Albel said to Nel.

Nel seemed surprised at first but didn't have the strength to argue and instantly fell asleep laying on Albel's back, clutching his mid-section. Eric snickered a little bit, but Albel paid no attention and hit the gas.

They traveled through wilderness for a solid three hours. Although the Arenite system enjoyed a level of technology comparable to that of Earth, they made it a point to refrain from blending technology too much into the landscape. None of their cities were as technologically dominated such as the Federal City.

"Well welcome to the village of Ota Commander Nox," Maverick yawned, "I went ahead and booked two rooms at the Yellow Rooster Inn." Albel grunted in response as they parked their hover craft. The village was quite small, most of the buildings were old wooden cabins. The traces of advanced technology were the metallite gates which surrounded the village and doubled as force field generators and military barracks for a small contingent of troops.

They had no trouble entering the village at the gates, the garrison hadn't seen any action for a while and seemed very lax about letting people in and out. After they'd checked in at the Yellow Rooster Albel carried Nel up to their room, not bothering to wake her up.

He laid her on the bed to the left and regarded her for a second before leaving her alone in the room and shutting off the lights. He exited the motel and took the street towards the North Gate, not really sure of where nor caring where he was going. He came to a fork in the road and leaned against the light post.

He stood there for a while until he heard a ruckus coming up the left side in the fork of the road, two or three stumbling figures were walking towards him. Albel peered down the road and saw a brightly lit sign which read "Kilnys Pub", Albel sneered and turned his head away from the inebriated individuals.

"Fools," he spat. As they awkwardly bumbled towards him, three young children soon came into his line of sight as well. Albel immediately looked more attuned to the situation and was monitoring it like a hawk. Albel's hand lowered to the handle of his katana as the figures, whom he now recognized as soldiers were on a direct course to collide with the children.

They continued on course and soon drew their guns on the kids. "You kids where do you think your goinggg?" one soldier asked. The kids began to tremble, but one of them stood in front of the other two.

"Please sir, we're just children, we aren't looking for trouble!" He raised his arms in front of the other two children, shielding them. He turned around and mumbled something to the other two which Albel couldn't hear, he assumed he was telling them to run when they got the chance, but he didn't wait for the situation to escalate.

Albel leapt forward, and slashed the soldier's rifle and caused a small explosion, then he jumped forward and caught the soldier wiith the butt of his katana in his gut, knocking him out cold. Then the two remaining soldiers trained their guns on Albel and shot at him. The blasts connected with his figure and the boy that protected his companions cried out, "NO!"

But the figure which they shot at dissipated into dark purple ripples. The soldier on the left suddenly grunted as Albel struck him at a pressure point on his neck with his claw arm. The last soldier was about to shoot at Albel when the kid hit him on the back with a rock he found on the side. The soldier flung around and was ready to shoot when Albel leapt forward underneath his legs, popped up and gave him an uppercut to the chin.

The man collapsed to the ground and Albel soon rounded on the child, "Fool, you could have gotten hurt, besides, I had him."

"Yeah right mister, he was about to shoot at you!"

Albel was about to shoot back a response but bit his tongue, deciding he shouldn't curse at a child. "Where are your guys' parents?"

"We uh, don't have any," the kid responded simply. Albel seemed a little shocked at first and regarded his next response carefully.

"Well stay out of trouble, stay off the streets, if there are drunk soldiers or any other types of maggots that mean you harm walk the other way."

"Yes sir!" the kid responded brightly. "Come on guys lets go!" he cried to his companions.

"Wait!" Albel said, not knowing exactly why. The kids stopped and turned around, Albel reached towards his utility belt and unhooked a small laser dagger which he carried and handed it to the boy. "If anyone gives you trouble like that again, you'll have a way of defending yourself."

The boy accepted it quietly and then the children ran off. They'd gone about 30 feet when the boy turned around and yelled out, "Thanks mister!" and ran off to catch up with his friends.

Albel uncharacteristically smiled and then smacked himself with his claw, accidentally scratching his chin. _Fool, smiling…But these kids are just around the age when I had to start fending for myself._ _Albel nostalgically recalled the king's soldiers cornering him once in the Krlsa tunnels._ He snapped out of his trance-like state and returned to the hotel.

When he returned to the room Nel was awake polishing her beloved blades, the ones she had retrieved from Woltar; her father's old weapons.

"Where have you been? And why didn't you wake me?"

"Just out for a walk, can't a man enjoy himself? And you looked tired you fool, you needed the rest."

Nel rolled her eyes and continued to study Albel's face, and sensed something was off. "Are you ok?"

"Fine." Albel replied tersely as he sat down on his bed and ran his hands through his hair. He focused on the floor for a couple seconds and then slowly rose his head and peered at Nel. "How old were you on your first mission?"

"What? Uh I was 9…I infiltrated Count Woltar's mansion and stole some information about a supply convoy going to Airylglyph sometime during the winter. This was pre-war of course."

"YOU!" Albel bellowed as stood up and his eyes widened.

"Me what, oh prince of darkness?"

"We met that night, we talked don't you remember you maggot?"

"I don't recall.."Nel's voice trailed off, but soon she suddenly remembered. "You were the boy I ran into…"

"Yeah you maggot, I thought you were some servant or something, you told me you were scared of the dark and couldn't sleep or something."

"Pfft well clearly I was lying, hmm nice to know I could fool you even then."

"You maggot, you have no idea how much disarray you caused me that evening, wow those fools put guards outside my room during the incident, while the whole time the perpetrator was inside the room behind them. Kudos Zelpher."

"Haha I'll take that as a win over you, but why the recent interest in my past?"

"No particular reason. Don't flatter yourself I care very little for your past you spy brat. However, I ran into a couple kids tonight, they were attacked by drunk soldiers and I had to help them out. I also gave them a weapon to protect themselves in the future, I'm questioning that decision now."

"Questioning…why? I think it was a noble act."

"How do I know they won't stray on a path and harm others, I could have robbed them of their childhood unconsciously. They have a choice to stay naïve and foolish…we didn't, we had to grow up quickly or be washed away with the war."

"This sounds very unlike you Albel…you helped those children, and by giving them a weapon for protection doesn't rob them of their childhood nor does it place responsibility on you. What they do with it is their choice, and you may have just given them a fighting chance if a similar situation befalls them again."

"Bah…I don't care. I just, ever since we left Elicoor for the first time, my path has been unclear, that's why I chose to follow Leingod, to become stronger and maybe find that purpose. I've grown stronger but I'm still looking for that purpose."

"Albel, we're shadows, you and I. We are specialists at war, we're products of a war ravaged country. I know that you live for the mission as much as I do. And isn't our current mission; simply keeping peace in this galaxy? We're part of a much higher order now."

"This galaxy can go to shit for all I care. I care not for the politics and pleasantries that Leingod and those others amuse themselves with. If there is a fight to be won I'll be there to see it out, but other than that I find that calling very shallow…I'm looking for something deeper…something that goes beyond proving my worth."

"You are quite complex Albel, but I respect your words, and I understand what you are seeking. Perhaps to find it, you have to stop approaching it as if it as a self-serving accomplishment, maybe what you are longing for isn't some sort of personal achievement to prove yourself or show your strength."

"And what exactly is that woman?"

"Tell me when you find it. Our definitions of success and worthiness are different, I find solace in being of use to others and maintaining solid relationships and friendships. Thus, I can't tell you what that is, it seems those children left a strong mark upon you."

"Hah those kids, not at all. Get some rest Zelpher, we still have a mission to finish."

"Eh I've been resting since you left, I have some more time to talk. I want to know, do you think the war was worth it? As a former Airylglyph Officer, do you think your reasons for waging war were justified?"

"Honestly, I didn't think much of it…back then I craved fighting, I cherished it, and there was a point I just wanted to kill, kill and kill."

"And that's changed how exactly?" Nel asked with a bemused smile on her face.

"Now fighting is sacred to me, it's become a part of me. I don't crave senseless pain or suffering now, but a good fight always gets my blood going. And I always enjoy besting an opponent especially a strong one. As for our reasons for war…I followed orders most of the time, allowing Vox to lead us blindly. As soon as we found peace between our two countries I vowed to never allow myself to fight for a blind cause again."

"Interesting answer."

"However, I always admired the courage with which you Aquarians fought. Were your reasons for fighting back enough, was it worth it? Losing companions?"

"Of course it was worth it. Whenever you are fighting for what you believe in and more importantly, you're freedom its worth the sacrifice. Victory or in this case peace is the way of honoring our lost love ones."

"So defeat would be dishonor?"

"No not so, not as shallow as that, giving up, allowing ourselves to stop fighting despite their sacrifices…that would be dishonor."

"Hm. We've seen a lot of fighting…you and I, do you wish it to end?"

"Of course, at some point we'll be too old to carry on and have to let the next generation take up the mantle only after passing on what lessons we can teach of course."

"Hm? Passing on our knowledge?"

"Of course, you have to have a way of leaving a mark on this world be it having children or having students that carry on your set of beliefs. My father once believed that people never really leave this world, they are carried on by the people we touch; mostly children or as I said students that learn from their seniors and take up their mantle as time passes."

"What about glory? Doesn't doing something that cause people to fear or respect you qualify as leaving a mark on this world?"

"Fear and fame fade into nothingness over time. But people, ideas, belief, and tradition, persist. Look at the Kennys and the Mavericks, their names are synonymous with Earth space travel."

"Hm. And who've you left to carry on your legacy?"

"Mm, I'm not sure yet-If I wish to have children or take on students and maybe teach and train them as my subordinates. Maybe you can teach those kids how to be as bloodthirsty, cruel, and stubborn as you."

"Hmph, quiet maggot."

* * *

"So what's the game plan boss?" Maverick asked Albel as he slurped his cup of coffee.

"Well we need to infiltrate the fort."

"Well duh."

"Maggot! I really hate you. Zelpher, any ideas on getting in?"

"I did some recon early morning before I woke up and I found a supply ship that goes in every week, its due to leave in a couple hours."

"Hm seems like our best option, did you scope out security?"

"Its minimal, we'll just have to be careful to avoid drawing attention from the soldiers stationed here. But from the sound of things with your experience with the soldiers here they seem a bit lax."

"That's true and when we entered the village, they didn't pay us much attention on the way in either," Eva interjected.

Albel nodded, "Be ready to leave in 20."

Eric left the room key at the front desk and they exited the building. Albel turned to Nel and motioned for her to lead the way. "Saionji, I want you to climb to the top of the tall tower by the North Gate and cover our escape, I trust that you will be able to meet up with us."

"Yes sir," she replied and removed her foldable bow and headed up the street.

"Commander Nox, will she be fine, maybe I should go with her?" Maverick asked.

"Don't worry Maverick your girlfriend is about three times as competent as you are, she'll be fine."

"Haha is that what they say about you and Commander Zelpher, GAH!" he cried as he found himself facing a katana and a pair of short swords at this throat.

"Maverick you're beginning to test my patience as well," Nel said coolly.

"OK ok fine I'm sorry! Jeez, tough crowd."

"Knock it off Maverick we're here, now either get serious or go home," Albel said sternly as he sheathed his katana. Eric nodded and they continued towards the military barracks.

"Zelpher you're on, it'll draw too much attention if we all go in, I trust you can handle this assignment."

"Always the tone of doubt Albel," Nel replied with a smirk. Nel examined the wall of the building, a solid two stories and began to scale the side of the wall. She reached the top and it was lined with domed, 4 feet vents in two parallel lines, spanning the entire roof. She dashed over to one and pulled out a laser weapon, set it to low and began to cut the dome top off, she circled around the vent and then slid it off. She took a second device out that looked like a camera and took a picture of the dome she had cut off, attached the device to the side of the vent and pressed a button and a 3D replica of the image materialized.

She peered around and jumped down the vent, she landed lightly on the metal floor, with a soft _clang_. She found herself in a tight ventilation shaft that was about 4 feet wide but the passage was about 6 feet tall, making it easier for Nel to maneuver. She continued forward into the steamy depths of the shaft. She passed numerous rooms going down the shaft until she passed over a room with numerous cells. She scanned the cells and found one with three kids; all of them were asleep. Curious, she cast a symbol which blasted the vent open but levitated upon reaching two feet from the ground then shot upwards, refitting itself into its previous spot as Nel's feet touched the ground.

She looked into the cell and saw the three kids and wondered if these were the same kids Albel had run into. She looked towards the door searching for Albel's laser dagger and found it in a box with other confiscated weapons. "Who would have thought…" she muttered under her breath. She searched for a key card to open the cell but found a keypad which operated it instead.

Once she lowered the laser bars, she motioned to wake them but instead she returned to the box with the weapons and found three: Albel's laser dagger, a blaster, and a foldable laser bow and arrow. She put them in the cell and left the room. _It may be cruel, but that's how I learned to protect myself even at that age._

She proceeded down the hall and placed a charge on the wall and hit a button that concealed the bomb. Nel continued to look for a way to let Albel and Eric in, she stealthily passed a couple living quarters and hit a fork. She was about to turn the corner when she ran into a guard patrolling the quarters. Her hands shot towards the hilts of her short swords, and cut the insides of the guards thighs, where his armor ran thin. His knees buckled, but Nel caught him before he fell to the floor.

She unholstered his rifle, crossed the wires in the rifle to short circuit, and re-holstered the blaster to make it look like the rifle had backfired on him. _I'm not gonna have long after they find him._ Navigating the rest of the building she was able to make it to a staircase leading to the ground floor. She peered out the window and saw a bunch of transports located directly below her.

Nel scurried down the staircase as she heard some shouting from the direction she came, the twisting staircase lead out to a narrow and dimly lit hall. She paused to sniff her surroundings, she smelled gasoline to her left and took the first door she saw. Nel burst into a brightly lit room with three hover transports, numerous tanks as well as soldiers walking around.

"Hey over there!" a bunch of soldiers yelled, pointing up at her.

"Shit!" she swore, she had entered the garage at an observation deck high above the vehicles and loading areas, visible for nearly everyone to see her. The soldiers began to fire at her and she dodged and jumped off the deck to take cover by some supply crates. She pushed her back against the crate and peered around the corner as blaster bolts singed her hair, and she pulled her neck back to resume cover.

_Think!_ She thought looking around, she had no way out. _How the hell are we going to get on those supply trucks now?_

* * *

"Holy shit!" Eric yelled as he saw explosions tear apart the upper mid-section of the building.

"Damn it, so much for stealth. Alright, we gotta get in there and save Zelpher," Albel said. Eric nodded and waited as Albel formed a plan. Albel studied where the garage should be, it was on the other side of the building, then he examined the rubble in the midsection of the building formed by the explosions. Albel pressed a button on his wrist and spoke into it.

"Saionji do you copy?

He waited a moment for a response until the female archer replied, "Copy sir, whats the situation? I see movement in the garage interior from my position."

"Can you give me eyes Saionji?"

"Affirmative sir, deploying air cam now," she replied, Albel heard a mechanical whir through the comm. then Eva replied, "live stream ready sir just open it on your wrist cam."

"Copy, await further instruction Saionji," Albel responded and pressed a second button on his wrist gauntlet, moved his left arm to his wrist and then threw it across his body as if swatting a fly. A holographic display soon showed the opening of the garage, the three transports and some blaster bolts firing. He zoomed in and seemed to see the soldiers concentrating their fire on a corner of supply boxes.

_Zelpher must be holed up there, and I see…an entrance from that upper deck, don't wanna go through there._ He scanned the area further until he found a guard room on the lower level and an entrance across from the side Nel was on.

"Alright Maverick let's go, we're gonna try and find a way in on the lower level and try not to attract any attention." He smiled in response and tightened his gauntlets. "Saionji, I want suppressive fire on those soldiers, I'll outline them for you, give Zelpher some help. Don't start firing until I tell you, better not miss."

Albel heard a scoff and unfolding of a bow, and Eva said, "You insult me sir, really." Albel laughed.

* * *

"Damn it!" Nel swore as she threw a shockwave at one of the soldiers and yelped as he was hit by the tremor. They were getting closer and she groaned further as she saw two more soldiers exit from the guardroom, and run over to the transport. Her comm. started bleeping and she jammed the button and pressed it close to her mouth, barking, "WHADDYA WANT?"

"Commander Nel, its Saionji. Commander Albel has devised a plan, go on the offensive, I'll cover you."

Nel was about to ask more questions when a thermal bomb tore open the supply crate, flinging shrapnel and debris, she cast a quick symbol which stopped the shards from hitting her. She leapt upwards and unleashed a flying guillotine on the first soldier, she was about to strike down the next one to her left but a quick black blur hit the soldier's helmet and he fell, impaled. Nel smiled and cast a quick shielding symbol to block the next barrage of fire. Black arrows were hitting targets all around her as they were falling around her, left to right.

Then suddenly out of nowhere a soldier behind her put a stun gun to her lower back and she felt electrical pulses jolting through her body. She fell to the floor and saw black figures surrounding her, she was yelling into her comm. link "Saionji help!" futily. She soon blacked out as she felt her body being dragged up a ramp.

* * *

"Did you have to be so aggressive?"

"She'll be fine, I only stunned her."

"But commander it was set to the highest setting…"

"Bah, the maggot has handled worse."

"ALBEL!" Nel cried as she tried flinging her body at the source of the voice. Her eyes adjusted to the lighting and she still felt a bit woozy but she was chained to the bench she had been laying upon. She desperately tried to break free of her restraints, but stopped until her eyes rested upon two soldiers wearing black armor.

"Do you want me to stun you again maggot?" the soldier on the left asked. The soldier on the right laughed.

"WHY ALBEL I'M GONNA CHOP YOUR PONYTAIL OFF AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS!"

"Jeez calm down, it was the only tactically sound option I had Zelpher. There was no other way to get onto this transport without alerting them."

Nel calmed down and faced away from them, judging from the other supply crates; they were in the main cargo bay of the transport. "So did Saionji get away fine?"

"Yep, she went ahead to scout out the fortress."

Nel still seemed a bit bitter then asked, "So did you find out who is spearheading this operation?"

"Alistair," Eric replied.

Nel shrugged, "Damn, that fool Alistair is really becoming a pain in the ass."

"The thief seemed to be a Symbologist by the name of Rhyse who is from the Arenite Republic. I'm guessing he is one of the anomalies caused by 4D tampering, remember Leingod warned us about them."

"That's bad, it means that Alistair is recruiting…" Nel said, cupping her hands together and holding them tightly close to her face.

Albel looked grim as well. "Another war seems to be coming upon us, a galactic war; these new symbologists are going to have to choose a side it seems. The 4D side or our side."

"M'am?" Eric interjected.

"What is it Maverick."

"If what you guys are saying is true, what about Aquaria? You are a country of symbological users, won't Alistair target them?"

"That is highly possible…that didn't even occur to me…" Nel replied. Albel looked worried too.

"Those fools will have to deal with me before they can get Elicoor," Albel said sinisterly. Nel nodded. _Clair…Tynave…Farleen._ She banished the thought of any harm becoming to Elicoor, upon joining the Galactic Council, a battle station was placed in its orbit, and the 19th Fleet was stationed there.

The ride to the fort was pretty smooth but Albel kept thinking of Alistair and Rhyse, both symbological warriors, he doubted either of them was as strong as Fayt, but he was still disadvantaged. He wasn't a rune warrior per se although he could manipulate chakra to a certain point; he didn't have symbology running through his veins. From what he had been told symbology gave them an edge by amplifying one's chakra levels.

Albel smirked, _Bah they may have symbology, but I'm still a great swordsman. Leingod himself admitted that._ "Zelpher, I'm still worried about fighting the pair of them. Rhyse, not so much, since he just recently acquired his powers we can take him down. But that maggot Alistair is just a little less dangerous than Leingod or Traydor."

"Yeah, I may be able to manipulate symbology but the level these guys are playing at are totally unreal, almost like gods."

"We do have Maverick, but his powers haven't fully manifested, oh not to mention Saionji's powers as well."

Nel sighed, "Well let's focus on recovering the data and all we can do is believe in our abilities. Another question is who is Alistair answering to now?"

"Circles upon circles, we don't even know who we are fighting. But you're right, those fools still have to deal with us, we did destroy the Creator, twice, and Leingod said our abilities were still enhanced upon entering the 4D universe." Nel nodded.

"I think I hear someone coming let's talk later once we get to the facility then we can formulate a plan." Nel pretended like she was asleep again and Albel pretended to do Inventory as Maverick returned with four soldiers.

"We'll be arriving soon, we have to prep the cargo for drop off," the captain said sternly. Albel nodded silently, fighting the urge to call him 'fool'.

* * *

"Zelpher, lunchtime," Albel said as he entered her jail cell, carrying a tray of food and her short swords. "Conceal them with symbology. Eric and I have formulated a plan. So we've been doing some recon."

"Where is Maverick now?"

"He is contacting Saionji and is going to let her in when they change the guard shift." Albel walked over to the cell control panel outside the door and made the room imperturbable so that no one could listen to their conversation."

"Also I've called in reinforcements."

"Surely not Maria or Fayt?"

"No you fool, Cliff has just arrived for the raid, he is going to be leading the troops in the ground assault."

"Really? That's actually a relief, Cliff may be in a seat of power now but he is still a raving madman on the battlefield."

"Right, so we've been watching Alistair and Rhyse for the past 24 hours since we got here and Alistair is definitely gearing this guy for war. They train every day for a good 4 hours in a gravity chamber and they are totally locked in. They've been trying to hack the security codes but seems like they haven't had much progress yet. Our operation has to happen quickly; we're gonna go for the codes. Eric and Cliff are gonna distract Alistair and Rhyse. Saionji will be running recon from the South guardtower"

"When do we attack?"

"About 14 hours from now."

"Sounds good, it seems too easy though, there has to be bad news."

"Right I was saving that part, Alistair really is gearing up for a total onslaught of war. This place is doubling as a factory, they've been producing weapons that I've never seen before, and I'm assuming they are symbological weapons. Then I also happened across a restricted room, Alistair is up to something. I'm worried we've been too complacent with him."

Nel gave him a worried look then said, "Oh! I ran into those kids you told me about in the military building, in the village."

"Really? Interesting, those fools were still alive?"

Nel laughed, looking at Albel's face, he was worried. He soon left her as they changed the guard. "Harassing the captives cadet? Goodjob!" Albel's replacement said heartily as he slapped his shoulder. Albel merely grunted in response.

* * *

"Kian what time does this party start?" Cliff asked.

"Albel told me they are ready on their end, we'll be good to go in 2 hours."

"Is that so? Well good. I've been itching to stretch my muscles; I haven't been able to properly use my hands lately. They've been used for signing documents and shaking hands with people who think they are important but really aren't."

"Bet you are excited to try out that new armor Madam Leingod prepared for you?"

"You bet, I literally become a one man wrecking machine. I've given that suit a couple test runs, try not to dent my armor during launch."

"You got it boss, but no promises!"

" Run the plan by me again, you're gonna be shooting me from one of the _Diplo II's _cannons?" he asked as he slurped some coffee.

"Yup, we're gonna shoot you in that symbological armor into that compound, theoretically it should create enough force to break through the fortress' shield and building, right into that training chamber Albel told us about."

"Ok…what about ground support? And what if I burn up in the atmosphere?"

"The outer shell we're gonna fire you in should prevent that. Kenny is leading the ground assault. I've already sent down a couple airships to help out in the attack."

Cliff looked skeptical but shrugged, "Sounds like fun, well it's almost that time. I'm gonna suit up"

Cliff left the bridge of the _Diplo II_ and made his way down to the weapons bay. Various soldiers and officers saluted to him as he walked past them. _Its amazing how many people answer to me now. To think I used to be anti-establishment, forming Quark and all._

He reached the bay and Lancar was standing by a huge blue, metallic block, tinkering with a computer attached to the side of the massive block.

"Lancar is this bitch ready?"

"Just about boss. Madam Leingod instructed me about it, she said there might be a couple bugs, and you just have to watch out for the power levels. But it should give you power rivaling Fayt's."

"Right, hopefully this will be a successful test run, she told me she started designing these to help combat the Executioners, we need to match their maneuverability in space. If all goes well we can start mass producing these and maybe turn the tide a little."

Lancar nodded, he punched a button on the screen, and the massive block opened up with a hiss, releasing cold smoke to reveal a streamlined suit of armor. Wrist, chest, and leg armors laid hanging on the wall. Cliff suited up with the gauntlets, boots and chest armor. Then thin, metal plates extended from the extremities he had put on until they had adjoined with one another. Forming an impenetrable and fully encased mechanic suit of armor. It began to click in numerous spots until the suit had become completely form fitting.

In the center of the chest plate a blue ethereal symbol burned brightly, with three concentric rings swirling around one another. Cliff smiled and clenched his fists. "I think its about that time right boys?"

"Hold on Cliff I need to give you a quick rundown on the suit, everything runs through your central nervous system, you think it you do it. You can release bolts of energy from you're palms and even the central chest piece I'd imagine. Otherwise all of your normal attacks are amplified by the suit. Once you're head guard goes, you'll be able to see your Heads Up Display which will show your vitals and you'll be hooked up to the main Galactic Council Network, you'll have intel, etc."

"Sweet, so uh when you guys shoot me into this fortress…what kind of support am I gonna have?" Cliff asked.

"Hm yeah about that…you'll have to fend for yourself until you link up with Albel and others inside." Cliff looked a bit stale at first but masked any lingering doubts with his usual smile.

"Well then, I'll just pound all of them then!" Cliff cried confidently, punching his palm. Lancar looked at his datapad.

"Cliff they're ready for you."

"You alright Cliff? Do you need a pillow? Some snacks, inflight movie?"

"Shut yer trap Kian, this shit better work. I don't wanna disintegrate in the atmosphere."

"You'll be fine, Madam Leingod designed the entire thing herself. The outer capsule should protect you long enough."

"Yeah, yeah. Just shoot me already, make sure Thomas hits that fortress hard when I get there."

"Roger. Engaging sequence. Cannon primed. Launching in 5…4…3…2…1…Punch it!"

Cliff steadied his breath, closed his eyes and engaged the head guard, a thin layer of blue energy encased his head and then disappeared as if there wasn't anything there. In one moment Cliff was steady and all was silent then suddenly his body jerked forward at a rate he had never felt before, as if the ground had been yanked from underneath his feet.

The protective pod soon engaged and blue wires cushioned and stabilized him. He could feel the Gs, blood rushing to his head. He began to feel lightheaded, beads of perspiration began to form on his forehead. His eyes started to droop, his legs felt numb, but the pod started to get hot and it was gaining momentum. Just as he was about to black out, the pod hit something. Hard.

He was afraid the pod would break and wouldn't be able to penetrate whatever it had collided with but it passed through it like butter, after a loud crash, it snapped Cliff back to reality. The final impact sent tremors through Cliff's body, then everything was still. He heard a couple muffled voices but Cliff didn't care, there was a tingling sensation in his mouth, Cliff widened his eyes in realization, lowered the head guard and threw up onto the pod's floor.

"Shyeet."

* * *

That's it for now!


	7. Something's Wrong Here

Disclaimer: I don't own star ocean

Let's keep going!

* * *

Nel lay still in her cell, watching the guard; he had his gun trained on her. _Should be about time. a_s if an answer to her thoughts the building was rocked, it was a passing disturbance, it did not persist. She didn't give the guard a second to consider what had transpired. She blasted her cell open, Albel had removed her restraints earlier, and flung herself at the guard.

He quickly dodged her then kicked her in the leg. Nel swore then attempted to sweep him but she easily jumped over it and shot at her exposed body. She had to dodge quickly and nicked her left shoulder.

"Fuck!" she swore, "Shadow wave!" she cried and purple shockwaves smacked the soldier backwards. He turned to run but Nel smiled grimly as she grabbed one of her concealed short swords and flung it at the soldier.

He was running to set the alarm off but the sword tore through his leg armor and cut open his left thigh, he screamed out, but had enough momentum to jump off his right one and hit the alarm button on the wall.

"Maggot," Nel cried silently and grimaced at using Albel's word.

Nel put on an ablative plate from the guard room and proceeded to rendezvous with Albel in the central command room of the fortress. She ran up two flights of stairs, everyone was in disarray and heeded no attention to her.

"Zelpher!" Albel cried. "What's your idea for setting off the entire fort, aren't you supposed to specialize in stealth?"

"Shut up let's get the stolen data and get out!"

Albel opened his mouth to argue but refrained from giving her the hairdryer treatment until later. They burst into the command room only to find twenty soldiers with rifles trained on them and a man holding a data disc on the other side.

Albel swore. "You knew."

"Of course we did." the man responded.

"How?" Nel asked uncertainly.

"Symbology is a wonder, when I first learned of my powers I was…enlightened." He raised two fingers to his head and made the data disc in his hand float.

"Telekinesis…" Nel muttered. Albel swore.

"I can read the thoughts of every person within this compound right now, Commander Nox's mind was an open book," he grimaced.

* * *

Cliff finally came to and replaced the head guard, and blasted out of the pod, releasing energy from the suit, expecting to see a surprised Alistair, he was surrounded by a hundred or so soldiers, and a lone man walked through the crowd over to Cliff.

"Supreme General Fittir, nice to see you again."

Cliff scoffed. _They Knew. That means…Kenny…_ He looked into Alistair's eyes and he smiled, taunting Cliff's epiphany.

* * *

"Alright start the bombardment," Thomas Kenny said to one of the other officers. He nodded and gave the orders to the tanks to begin their bombardment. They fired their first barrage which soon collided with the fort's shielding but then explosions and screams among their own ranks were heard.

Executioners, Arenite soldiers and tanks were pouring out from the surrounding mountains and were attacking his troops. "Shit fuck! Steady men, give them hell!" He cried. He switched on his symbological ward grabbed his rifle and furiously began to shoot at the Executioners. "Captain Fery get me a line with Kian!"

The officer nodded and handed him a communicator, "KIAN! I need heavy firepower, we're being ambushed!" A blast to his left threw up dirt and soil, and then he felt a club to his head which distorted his vision for a second. But, twisted around to find the aggressor. He pressed a button on his rifle which morphed it into a gunblade and he barbarically butchered the man's head off.

"Captain! Have the men retreat to the ruins where we posted our reinforcements." The captain nodded and turned to move but the Executioners in the air were glowing with red symbols and red beams of energy extended from them until they met other Executioners, forming a web of lights, enclosing them.

"Fuck, we have no escape…" Kenny whispered under his breath.

* * *

"Alright Eva, we should be just about ready to proceed, check-in on Albel and Nel for me, they may have already left the command center and retrieved the data disc."

Eva nodded, then gasped, "Eric, Commander Nox and Zelpher are surrounded."

"What? Tom, come in Thomas, status report!" he yelled into his comm. line. No response. "Eva you try yours!" Eva nodded but shook her head in disappointment.

"His line is dead," she replied with a grim look.

"T-They knew…" Eric said softly. But a thought came to him, "do they know about us though?" _If they knew about them, how come we haven't encountered any resistance?_

"That's right…"

"Alright, why don't you give them a little surprise of their own Eva, I'm gonna go help out General Fittir. See if you can't give me some eyes in the sky by the gravity chamber."

She nodded in response, "Be careful."

"Aww I'll miss you too sweety. But I'll be sure to come back in one piece for ya."

"Piss off," she replied as she shot an arrow at him as he made toward the stairs.

* * *

"You know, we defeated your pal Alistair before. Even if you capture or kill us now, Fayt Leingod will raise hell and kill your asses," Albel said.

"Are you lacking confidence in your own skill Commander Nox?" Rhyse responded.

"Not really I just like to see you squirm. I saw you cringe at the thought of that. Despite all your power and Alistair's you are still afraid of us, and our companions. Why would you and Alistair have to be hiding out in the nether regions of this galaxy if you couldn't beat us head on."

Rhyse scoffed, "That would lack the finesse and creativity. It just wouldn't be as fun. Give up you two, there's no escape."

"Rhyse are you aware of the entity that Alistair serves? They seek the destruction of not just your homeworld, but the very fabric of our reality," Nel cried angrily at him.

"Bah, there are so many inferior beings in this universe. I have been granted higher powers, Alistair and I are the first many to belong to a new and higher world order now."

Nel was furious at his response. However, a couple of the soldiers seem to have faltered and lowered their weapons. "Hang on a sec are you calling us inferior?"

"You fool, you are my subordinate, lower your weapon and target the enemy."

"Forgive me sir, but you sound like you are the enemy if you seek the destruction of our universe." A couple of the other soldiers agreed and re-trained their weapons on Rhyse. Other soldiers didn't seem too convinced and aimed their weapons at their former companions.

Rhyse was about to open his mouth again when two quick blurs punctured the glass of the room then erupted and engulfed the room in flames. The blast left Rhyse unscathed, but the soldiers closest to him didn't fare as well. A third arrow also entered the room before the explosion which pinned the data disc to a corner of the room, protecting it from the explosion. "What the-?" he cried.

"Rhyse, for all your powers you failed to predict my ace in the hole," Albel smirked. Nel jumped for the data disc across the room but Rhyse motioned for it with his hand and it shot towards him. In response another arrow pierced the window and shattered the disc.

Nel gasped and looked to Albel but he shrugged. "The mission was to retrieve the intel from the enemy, they never said anything about bringing it back in one piece." Albel kept his eyes trained on Rhyse, waiting to see his next move.

"Ice Needles!" Nel cried and then dashed towards him. Rhyse dodged the first barrage of needles, and rose a hand to Nel and she stopped in her tracks. "I-I c-can't move!" She started to grunt in pain as her arms involuntarily began to twist into positions she wouldn't be able to reach otherwise.

Albel growled and dashed towards Rhyse, he stopped him with his mind and they lay suspended in the air for a second. Veins started to pulsate in Rhyse's forehead, but then another arrow embedded itself in his left shoulder. He dropped the two Elicoorians clutching his shoulder. "Damn, I missed his head," Eva said across Albel's comm. line.

"G-Good job Saionji, maintain your current position." Albel and Nel cornered him, raising their respective weapons to his neck. "Don't move maggot."

About 30 minutes earlier…

"So General Fittir, will you come quietly?"

"Alistair, it doesn't have to be like this. Why did you turn? You had so much potential, you could have easily had my job in a couple years. We were about to promote you to Admiral Hermes' former position. Why?"

"Because, 4D space has opened my eyes. No matter what position I achieved in Earth's governmental hierarchy or even in the Galactic Council hierarchy, it would mean nothing. It would pale in comparison to Leingod, Leingod doesn't need a position to stamp his authority. And compared to 4D beings, what are we? We are nothing. Leingod was the only who had power to unsettle and challenge them. "

"Now, I can bring peace to the Eternal Sphere, by taking down Leingod, I will assume leadership over the Eternal Sphere and unite the galaxy under the banner of the Federation. The Federation my forefathers fought so strongly to build and grow. You, Leingod, you're entire group seek to erase that regime, and by doing so will bring the destruction of the Eternal Sphere."

"You're crazy Alistair, what about the 4D beings, they are using you to take down Fayt and once you have, how will you deal with them? How will you stop them from destroying everything you are fighting for."

"They won't! I have struck a deal with them. You see Fittir, I have the power of deletion. Not only can I erase, lesser beings. But I can also take away an individual's symbological power. Once I assume control of the council, and restore the Federation I will rid the Eternal Sphere of symbological users."

"You're plan is still flawed, the 4D beings won't be content with that! Are you so misguided by your hatred to see that they won't dispose of you once you have achieved that? You will still have symbological power, still a threat to the 4D beings. How will you defeat them all alone? Join us! Then we can take them down all together."

"Silence! We cannot work in cooperation, you have your own plans for the future of this galaxy, I have my own. I have met with the 4D beings, and we have worked out terms. You are an inferior being on the losing side, I don't have to divulge everything to you."

"So that's it huh? There's no persuading you?" Cliff asked.

"I'm afraid not Fittir, I have chosen my course."

Cliff clenched his fists, "I can't wait to see your face when that time comes and I get to say, I told you so." Cliff grinned, "Then again I hope that time comes a long time from now as much as I wanna be right, being right will mean an assload of problems for us. In any event, I can't allow you to continue recklessly rampaging through this galaxy. You've been a big pain in the ass enough already," Cliff said coolly as he powered up the suit again.

Alistair grinned confidently, "Try and keep up, old man. Attack!" he yelled and the soldiers began to fire. Cliff assumed a battle stance and then in a split second he threw himself into a series of complex dodges and acrobatic leaps and athletically dodged all the blasts. Before Alistair could even react Cliff was an inch away from him, "Acrobat locus!" he cried and gave Alistair a solid kick to his chest, putting him through the roof.

In another second he appeared above Alistair, spun his body around and let his heel dig into Alistair's stomach and sent him hurtling back through the roof of the building. Alistair coughed up blood and readied himself to cushion his fall but to his horror Cliff appeared about 5 feet above him, his fists shining.

"HAMMER OF MIGHT!" Cliff cried, and the blast caught Alistair square in the chest, splitting the ground and throwing up soldiers into the air. Cliff landed softly like a cat, and brushed dust off of his shoulders. "Had enough?"

Alistair wheezed a little bit then laughed, "Damn, Fittir, you are strong. I underestimated you." Alistair's figure suddenly dissipated into the shadows, but his voice continued to speak, which Cliff heard behind him.

"Knew it was too easy," Cliff sighed with his eyes closed and turned around to face Alistair. "A doppelganger?"

Alistair nodded, "Brace yourself fool." Cliff thought of how he would counter him, _First he's probably gonna blast me with energy, I can't take a full on blast. It would rip this armor off. How do I stop him? I can't beat him with brute force. Only one option…_

"See ya!" Cliff cried and ran out the door. Alistair looked dumbstruck but charged out of the room, hell-bent. With a burst of red energy he flew out of the room and hurtled towards Cliff. He ran through the soldiers and up the stairs, Alistair was destroying the entire place through his rage. Cliff was hurtling up the stairs when he ran smackdab into Eric Maverick.

Alistair mowed right past them but turned around to re-engage them. "General!"

"MOVE YOUR ASS!" Cliff yelled as he yanked Eric onto his feet and ran the other direction.

"General how do we stop him?"

"I have no freakin clue!"

"Wait what about Thomas?"

"Yes what about him?"

"Maybe if we can divert him towards Thomas then he'll stop his rampage!"

"That just might work, stay right behind me Maverick. ELECTRIC FISTS!" he cried and broke through the wall to his left. They found themselves in a new room; surprising all the soldiers, Cliff punched through the next wall and the next one.

"General go a little faster, Alistair is gaining on us!" Maverick cried.

"Almost there! I think…" as he burst through a final wall and they found themselves exit into a battlefield full of chaos. "Damn, they got our ground troops as well. Maverick ring Thomas on your comm." Maverick nodded, but yelped as he dodged one of Alistair's blasts.

"Thomas, get your ass out here, its reunion time with your brother!" he yelled into his comm.

"What? Alistair? As much as I wanna see my saint of a brother I'm kind of holed up in the ruins about 30 clicks from the main gate of the fortress, damn, suppressive fire!"

"Fine, we'll bring him to you then, I guess!"

"Great, something else to deal with. Sure bring him over, should be a good reunion," Thomas replied sarcastically.

"This is not what we need, alright, screw this I'm done running, I'm fighting him, you get Kenny to me."

"Sir, he'll overpower you!"

"Shut up Maverick, I can handle this guy, I've taken down the Creator, and a symbologically powered Wise Man, this guy is just another speed bump on the highway that is life." Maverick saluted, and looked as if he was gonna cry.

"I-I'll. Good luck sir!" he cried and ran as fast as he could to find Thomas. Cliff turned to face the on rushing Alistair, but also noticed the Executioners in the air maintaining the barrier which trapped their troops.

He didn't have too much time to regard them and switched his attention to Alistair. "Come here boy," Cliff bellowed. He charged up his palms, focusing his energy and stopped Alistair in his tracks. He grabbed on to his arms and began to spin him, then he let go and flung him at one of the Executioners forming the barrier. Alistair crashed into the Executioner and the barrier began to dissipate.

"Shit, he's gonna be angry now," Cliff muttered. On cue a burning red blob soon hurtled towards him. The blob became a blur and then disappeared from his line of sight. "Damn…left!" he cried as he threw his arms up to meet a strong sword ram into his guard.

Alistair wasted no time and threw a round house to Cliff's head; dodging it he tried an uppercut. Alistair nimbly moved his upper torso backwards then hit him with a sidekick to his stomach and released a burst of energy from it, blasting Cliff backwards.

"As much as I'd like to bash heads with you all day, why don't we find a peaceful way to settle this? Preferably ending in you not negotiating the destruction of our world."

"We aren't negotiating men Fittir. We're men of war."

"That's bullshit Alistair. We aren't savages; I will always prefer a peaceful settlement over aggressive negotiations. I just refuse to be strong-armed or bullied on the way to that settlement."

"Let's avoid the pleasantries, and just beat the crap out of each other, preferably ending in the removal of your head from the rest of your body."

"Alistair!" a voice yelled. He spun around and faced the man calling his name.

"Heh, Fittir is this your idea of a peaceful settlement, using my own brother against me?"

"I would have come to confront you anyways Alistair. Brother you have shamed our family name. I-I'll take you down myself I have to!" he cried as he pointed his rifle at him.

"Don't be stupid brother; I won't hesitate to destroy you."

"Then we have nothing to talk about," Thomas replied cooly and shot at Alistair. Alistair dodged and released a vicious blast at his younger sibling. The blast was interrupted by a yellow burst of light. Once the smoke cleared Eric Maverick stood in front of his childhood friend with his fist clenched and his sword hanging loosely at his side.

"You are a disgrace Alistair, you have the nerve to strike down your own brother," Eric hissed, "You ok buddy?"

"Yup, we're even now." Eric laughed, but refocused on Alistair, the crest on his fist burned white hot.

"You're kinda fucked pal. And what about you're buddy Rhyse? You can't hope to take down the both of us," said Cliff.

Alistair grimaced, his palms burned red, and his body split into 4 copies. Electrical pulses began to run over the two of the replicas' body as they soon joined palms and charged up energy.

"Maverick!" Cliff yelled.

"On it! Rising Blade!" he cried charging his sword with power and launched off the ground like a space shuttle and rocketed towards the duo. However, Alistair's third doppleganger intercepted him like a frenzied defensive lineman.

"Let's dance pal!" Cliff cried and jumped forwards, pushed off the ground with his arms and shot himself toward Alistair, legs outstretched. Alistair grabbed Cliff's leg and threw him in a seismic toss down towards the ground.

Cliff danced around in the air and let loose a burst of energy from his feet, and landed with a resounding 'boom', creating a mini-crater. He increased the output of energy and flew at Alistair again, at the last second he tucked his arms in and pulled himelf into a barrel roll, by killing his 'boosters' then restarted them and darted at Alistair.

"Electric fists!" he cried and his gauntlets crackled with pulsating energy and landed a direct hit to Alistair's midsection.

"Gah!" he cried and violently sent his right hand into Cliff's skull. The hit was absorbed by his invisible head guard then cracked like overheated glass, but Alistair's fist eventually made contact with his cheekbone.

Cliff was flung backwards, but not before getting a solid hold on Alistair and cried, "Oh no, you're coming with me!" and they hurtled towards the ground. About 30 feet from impact, Cliff repositioned Alistair and threw him at the ground and then hit him with a 'max shockwave'.

Alistair grunted as he crashed into the ground but released streams of red energy to counteract the shockwave. Huge explosions and smoke resulted from the collision of the forces. Cliff let loose a savage battlecry and folded his arms to his side, flipped in the air and extended a foot as he fell in freefall at his former colleague.

Alistair held an arm up to protect himself from the smoke and then like a hawk he spotted Cliff's approach and deftly extended an arm to catch Cliff by his ankle then threw him at Maverick, dueling with his doppleganger a stone's throw away.

"Maverick!" Cliff cried and winked at him.

"Chew on this!" Eric cried and hurtled his sword at Alistair's copy. _Timing's gotta be just right_. He thought as he rapidly spun around grabbed onto Cliff's outstretched fists, shifted his weight from his lead foot to his back, pivoting on it.

"Don't you dare let me go Maverick! Or else you'll be filing my office papers!" Cliff bellowed as Eric spun around 360 degrees then launched him at Alistair's pair of dopplegangers. Eric smiled then did a backflip and caught his sword in midair as his foe rebounded it back at him, then using his momentum launched it at the unsuspecting Alistair.

"Blazing sword!" Eric cried. Alistair was about to intercept Cliff when he felt a numbing pain in his back and turned in horror to see a flaming sword embedded in his armor. The pain suddenly hit him as if someone was mashing his spine and then twisting it. He fell to his knees, removed the sword and closed his eyes.

Cliff cried, "Infinity kick!" as his boots turned bright blue and he crushed the two clones causing them to fade into nothingness, he landed on the ground and looked at Maverick who cautiously approached Alistair to retrieve his sword. Cliff watched Alistair who suddenly opened his eyes which were burning red and red energy wings sprouted from his back. "GET BACK YOU FOOL!" and ran furiously towards them.

Alistair charged up and then released spikes of red energy swirling with symbols around them, Cliff jumped in front of Maverick and took both hits. "ARGHHHH" Cliff cried as if the energy was splitting his chest open, instead leaving him in a smoking pile on the ground.

Alistair was still in his supercharged state and released three more bursts at Maverick, Eric thought he was a goner until three shining objects appeared in front of him and stopped the energy bursts in front of them. Maverick opened his eyes and saw three children floating in the air in front of him holding the energy Alistair had conjured and re-directed it at Alistair.

He didn't have time to counter and the blasts threw him out of the air. "W-What the," Maverick whispered as he looked at the kids who began to dim and bobble in the air, he rushed to catch each one of them and studied them intently. Once he had secured them, he moved towards Alistair. As he did, twenty or so Executioners enshrouded him and then in a flash of dark energy, they disappeared.

Maverick shielded his face with his arms then turned to Thomas, "What the fuck just happened?"

Thomas shrugged, "Come on we got a battle to finish," he said as he motioned to the bedraggled remnants of their forces.

"Right, lemme just secure these kids and General Fittir," he said as he called in an airship.

* * *

Back in the Arenite Fortress…

"Damn, they got Alistair…" Rhyse whispered to himself. _I'm not strong enough to manipulate these two but maybe._ He began to tap into his telekinetic powers, not being able to fully manipulate them, but instead focused it on the ground below him, wearing down the imperfections in the metal. He smiled as he successfully began to make cracks.

"Well as much as I enjoy your company Commanders, I'm gonna have to bow out for now!" he said as the ground underneath him gave away and he fell onto the lower floor.

"Quick!" Nel cried as they jumped through the hole and ran after him. They chased him to the end of the hall where there were a group of Executioners.

"No where to go you fool!" Albel cried.

"I'm afraid our final encounter will have to wait my good Commander Nox," he grinned as the Executioners surrounded them and disappeared.

"Damn it!" Nel cried. "We lost them."

"Commander Albel, did you guys capture Rhyse?" Eric chimed in across the comm.

"Negative the fool got away."

"What about Alistair?" Nel asked.

"Negative…He was too strong. General Fittir is down, I just had him retrieved by one of our gunships, we've nearly routed their forces but suffered major casualties today."

"Roger, await further instructions. Saionji meet up with us by the restricted area there's something I wanna check out," Albel said.

"What is it?" Nel asked.

"Remember what I mentioned earlier?

"Yeah, Alistair's fishy business?" Albel nodded as they reached the room. Nel suddenly felt like a heavy burden was thrown upon her shoulders, and she could hear voices, and screams of pain.

"A-Albel, do you hear that?"

"Y-Yeah," he mumbled as his heart seemed to beat faster, and the screaming got louder, he heard shouts for help, he couldn't take it any longer and then cried, "Palm of destruction!" and tore through the metal door.

They stepped toward the source of despair, and the screaming got louder, Albel collapsed on the floor. _Images of a dragon breathing fire flashed in his mind, and then a young boy screamed out in pain. An older man entered Albel's view, but he too was soon engulfed by the flames. The screaming increased to a cresendo. _Until he awoke and recovered from the trauma looking at Nel, whose ears were glowing purple, and she seemed to be mumbling a few words until the ringing in his ears stopped.

"This is a most curious object," Nel said as she pointed at a blood red crystal sitting on a small raised platform at the end of the room. Nel looked at Albel's haggard face then asked, "What did it make you see?"

"W-What?"

"I s-saw my f—I mean I saw numerous runologists and Aquarian soldiers killed around me, a flashback from my past. What did you see?"

"N-nothing. I saw the faces. Faces of men I've killed,"Albel lied, and looked away. Nel paused and looked at him, emotionless, then nodded.

"I wonder what kind of sick object this is, at any rate we'll have to wait for a proper containing unit before we can move it."

Saionji soon arrived and looked puzzled at the two, "What's wrong, you two look like you've seen ghosts?"

Nel looked puzzled, "Don't you hear the voices?"

"What? No. Sorry, it does seem a bit stuffier in here though. And my body feels a bit heavier, maybe just fatigue from the fighting."

Albel and Nel looked at each other, concerned then looked back at Eva. "Alright let's regroup with Maverick and Kenny, see if we can help out at all and you can give me a status report on the way," Albel said as he shook his head and widened his eyes. He angrily tore off his ablative plate, the worn end was digging into his abdomen.

* * *

R&R - Read/Review


	8. SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS! Everybody?

Disclaimer: I don't own star ocean or beer pong, lol.

* * *

"WOOHOOO! SHOTS ALL AROUND!" Fayt yelled happily as he poured the French vodka into 5 separate shot glasses. The five of them toasted.

"To Fayt, the savior of our freakin universe!" a blond haired girl cried. "To Fayt!" they exclaimed.

"To meeeee!" Fayt yelled, giddy with laughter, he looked at the shot guiltily and fearfully at first, but pressed the cold glass to his lips and tipped it into his mouth, the liquor burning the inside of his throat. He waltzed down the bar toward his friend and put a friendly arm around his shoulder.

"Kai, we are going to pioneer the shit out of symbological genetics. Just freakin' pioneer the crap out of it, you being the engineer and I being the researcher we're gonna take sym genetics by its throat and make it our bitch!" Fayt cried pointing to the ceiling and then speaking a couple incoherent words.

"Fayt, I think you've had too much to drink what's that you're fourth…fifth shot?" Kai asked.

"Twelfth, I'm just getting started brooo!"

"Alright buddy I think it's time to leave, we have an exam on Monday and I know you're smart and all but I think you'd rather have all of tomorrow to study. Rather than throw up the entire day…."

"DUDE. I'm fine." Fayt assured him. He motioned to pat Kai on the shoulder but got air instead.

"Yeah, you're not fine, come on pal."

"Kai, NOOOOOOO!" Fayt cried.

"Alright, alright! Look I'll just be at the bar, come find me when you're ready to go, alright?"

30 Minutes Later…

"So Fayt, I'm really glad you came out with us tonight," said Kate.

"You know me too, I feel so happy, do you feel happy? Cuz I feel happy, I feel like I could take on the Universe!" said Fayt, obnoxiously loud.

"I bet you could, you're so strong!" Kate said seductively as she put a hand on his chest.

"Woahhhh Kate. Boundaries girl. Boundaries," Fayt responded playfully.

"Why what's wrong, I'm just putting my hand on your chest," she responded playfully, placing her second hand on it as well.

"I have a girlfriend, who I love so much, I'd blow up a freaking star."

"How about I make you love me till you blow up?" she teased as she pulled Fayt closer.

"Hmm that sounds sexual, and you're just drunk, we're both drunk."

"Is that a no?" she asked.

"Yes. Absoloutely positively."

"So you do want to hookup?"

"What now I'm confused. Hookup? Like what does that even mean?" Fayt asked. Kate smiled and went in for the kill, keeping one arm on his chest then lowering her second to his private area as she leaned in for the kiss. A group of other students from their class cheered enthusiastically. They kissed passionately for a while until Kate pulled away, whispered something into his ear, and they moved towards the exit of the club.

Kai was at the bar and looked towards the commotion and looked at what seemed to be Kate making out with one Fayt Leingod. "Oh shit…" he whispered and dashed toward the two, as fast as one could in a crowded club. "Excuse me, sorry, pardon me, attempting to save friend's balls from being chopped off…" he muttered to people as he made for the door.

Finally he caught up with them and grabbed Kate by the arm, "What the hell are you playing at Kate?"

"Oh Kai, you wanna join us? Oh Melody!" she cried, beckoning for her friend to come over.

"Shit that's not fair Kate…" Kai muttered as he decided between succumbing or not, "Look Fayt has a girlfriend and you can't take advantage of his drunken state like that. Fayt really likes Maria, and as much as I know how much of a slut you are, I won't let you do this."

"HEY! I'm not drunk!" Fayt interjected.

"See Kai? He did it of his own accord, right baby?" she asked Fayt.

"I can't feel my left ear," Fayt responded with a giddy look on his face.

Kai grinned at her and looked at Fayt, "Fayt you just cheated on Maria, let's go now and I won't tell her."

"I DID WHAT?! I DIDN'T" Fayt roared, then he looked at Kate, "Ohhh." Fayt tiptoed over to Kai, "Let's go pal."

Kate looked dumbstruck then hooked arms with her friend Melody who was wearing a very revealing shirt, "Fayt are you sure you don't wanna join us?" Melody asked, letting her shirt drop low.

Kai's ears turned red and was about to decline her invitation but Fayt said, "Sorry, but my heart only belongs to one woman. Well her and my mother, but mostly Maria." Kai turned to look at Fayt and was about to laugh.

"Goodnight Kate," Kai said smugly and waved her off and simply gave Melody a sarcastic nod. "Oh Fayt, what trouble have you gotten yourself into?"

"I don't know daddy," Fayt responded sadly. "Dad, did I really cheat on Maria?"

"One I'm not your father Fayt. That'd be weird. Two, yes you did."

"How?"

"Well you let a girl, not Maria, kiss you and grope your dick. And secondly, she was your ex-girlfriend."

"SHIIITTTTTT. Kate? That slutbag! What if she finds out, did anyone see us?"

"Unfortunately yes, about half our symbological genetics class was cheering you guys on; they might've gotten pictures too."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO The world is ending!"

"No, no its not, don't worry bud I'm sure we'll be able to sort it out, now give me the keys, there's no way you're driving."

Fayt handed him the keys, then his knees buckled and fell face first into the concrete. "Oof that's gonna leave a mark…" said Kai as he attempted to lift Fayt up, but he weighed as much as a starship.

Just as he was about lose all hope Fayt woke up, seeing this as his chance Kai pressed a button and the door opened with a soft hiss. Fayt had a dumb grin on his face as he walked towards the car and hit the side, readjusting himself he entered the car, not before bonking his head on the ceiling of the famed bull. Kai quickly locked the door then got into the driver side, only to find Fayt fast asleep once again, curled up in a fetal position.

"M-Maria," he seemed to be whispering between breaths.

"Oh boy," Kai muttered as he turned the engine on and its roar frightened a sleeping street cat. "At least I get to drive his car to put up with his drunk ass."

He hit the gas and was driving down the road when he heard a buzzing noise and Fayt's communicator was ringing. Maria's face lit up the screen and he sighed staring at it, silencing the phone.

* * *

Fayt slowly opened his eyes, feeling a little tired but not too bad. When his eyes had adjusted and he tilted his head slightly throbbing pain in the back of his head hit him. Then he tried moving his body but he was sore from head to toe. A fuzzy blanket was hanging slightly from him and attempted to pull it closer to himself.

He tried to make heads or tails of his environment, and he soon surmised that he wasn't at home. As if someone smacked him on the face a sharp diagonal pain stretching from his left lower cheekbone across his right eye.

"Ughhhh," Fayt moaned, as he covered his face with his right hand, not caring about the pain that was threatening to bite his face off.

"Good morning princess," Kai said sarcastically as he entered the room sipping a cup of coffee, clutching a second cup in his other hand. He sat in the loveseat across from the sofa Fayt was laying upon, placing the cup of Joe in front of him.

"Ughhh," Fayt moaned as he angrily glared at Kai.

"Why so angry?"

"I-I-Can't move my eyebrows," Fayt said lamely.

"Wait are you serious?" Kai exclaimed as he almost dropped hot coffee on himself. He attempted moving Fayt's eyebrows, poking him with his fingers.

"Ow, hey stop it will ya?" Kai bugged Fayt a little more until his communicator began to vibrate. It was his mom.

"You gonna get that," Kai asked sarcastically. Fayt gave him a staleface and motioned for Kai to bring it towards him. Kai smiled in response. Fayt motioned a second time and Kai picked up the communicator and plopped it on Fayt's chest.

"Mom, what, what's up?" he asked, struggling not to slur his words.

"Well son, Maria was trying to call you last night and make sure you were fine. And we've been trying to call you in, something big just surfaced."

"Uh ok, well just tell Maria I agree to everything and make her sign everything herself."

"No Fayt, this is serious I need you to come in."

"I'm kind of not able…" Fayt replied, his voice trailing off.

"What do you mean, not able?" she responded, with a sharp and stern tone. "And why can't I see your face, why did you turn off the hologram mode?"

Fayt glanced at Kai, mouthing something at him, looked hopeful until Kai nodded in response with a massive sigh.

"Ok yeah mom I'll be there soon," he responded quickly and shut off his communicator. He got up gingerly and put his shoes on, then glanced at Kai while tying his shoes. "What did happen last night?"

Kai nearly spit out his coffee as he searched for a response, "You really don't remember a thing you bonehead? After what you did?"

"No, I really have no clue, the last thing I remember was taking a shot and you moving towards the end of the bar trying to chat up that Sociology chick. Which by the way did you happen to get her number?"

Kai smacked his head, "Unbelievable. I should tell Maria what you did. And yes, I did thanks for asking; little did I know I'd have to clean up your mess."

"Dude, tell me what happened?!"

"Let's check the social feed for our Sym. Gen section," Kai replied and then shook his head and showed him the pictures.

Fayt looked on in horror as he saw what seemed to be him, locking lips with Kate Lingard. "Oh boy…" he muttered.

"Ha—yeah that's what I said pal, I don't know how we're gonna fix this if Maria finds out."

Fayt swallowed then he faced Kai, "I have to tell her."

Kai looked at him incuriously, "What? She'll kill you. Like literally."

"Dude I have to be honest with her in this relationship! It's the only way; I just hope she believes that I was drunk off my ass. You'll back me right man?"

Kai seemed to hesitate for a second then said, "Of course bud, what are friends for?"

"Thanks pal, you are seriously the best! Now off to the Federal Square!" Fayt exclaimed as he got on his feet, but felt a draft by his private area, forcing him to look downwards. "Uh why am I pants less?'

"Well, oh savior of the galaxy, you kind of threw up on them." Fayt thought of a clever remark, but he couldn't find one and the two young men laughed.

* * *

"What on Earth did you do to your face?" Mrs. Leingod asked Fayt.

"Er.."

"Lab experiment m'am. Fayt and I were tinkering with symbological shielding, we were trying to increase the output on the devices, unfortunately, no dice," Kai interjected.

"And you are?" Mrs. Leingod asked sternly.

"Kai Lee m'am, third year Sym Genetics student with your son, in Professor Hall's class actually."

"Ah, right. Hall still teaching then? Remind me to give him a call. Oh just watching you two remind me of Robert and I when we were starting out. Robert was such a nerd back then, always burying himself in work, I don't know how we ever got in a relationship with one another."

"Hah, yeah mom just like you, dad, and the Esteeds, cept we're not making our children biological weapons of mass destruction," Fayt smiled.

"You think you're smart do you? Keep your partially bruised lip shut, anyways onto business." Maria walked over to Fayt with a cotton pad in her hand and wiped his cheek with it.

"Are you ok? What actually happened? I doubt someone beat you up? Were you attacked by 4D soldiers?"

"I-I'll tell you later," he replied, glancing at Kai uneasily. He shrugged in response.

"Ok kids, so first order of business. The Time Gate is giving off chronic levels of symbological energy. That is to say it is kind of gamma radiation except that free radicals aren't being emitted, obviously. Rather waves of symbological energy at different frequencies. That is right frequencies, good thing class is almost done for you guys and you'll be on your semester break. I wanted to take a team to go study it, and fortunately you three will be able to accompany us."

"Ok, so what's the worst news?" Fayt asked grimly.

"Well, Fayt , Maria; I wanted to refrain from telling you about this but about a month and a half ago Nel and Albel had some difficulty on Aren."

Maria gasped, "Are they alright?"

"Yes, yes they are fine, Cliff was the only one who suffered major injuries but has recovered quite well so far."

"So that's why Cliff hasn't been bugging me that much with script messages lately…" Fayt muttered under his breath as he shut his eyes.

"So other than Cliff's unfortunate injury what's the bad news?" Maria asked.

"Well they encountered Alistair, and he wasn't alone."

"He's recruiting?" Fayt asked with a stern look on his face.

Mrs. Leingod arched her neck to indicate a positive response, "Yup, he's been pretty active lately despite that last setback, Nel and Albel have been trying to beat him to each symbological user that is popping up."

"He's a fool if he thinks he can control all of them; much less coordinate all of them against us."

"That's the thing I'm afraid of, from what you told me about the Eternal Sphere, due to the 4D beings' tampering, random data errors—symbological users will begin to appear in our dimension. I think we have to start recruiting as well."

"Hold on mom, what you're talking about is potentially creating an arms race between our side and theirs of symbological warriors. I want to avoid a galactic slugfest between two sides. We are already dealing with separatist nations that are resisting the Council. This campaign would only from a further schism of two sides; these individuals will become the center of a power struggle that could tear apart the entire universe."

"Fayt, we have to be reasonable here and be able to protect ourselves. I'm trying to keep you and Maria out of this!"

"Maybe its unavoidable," Maria muttered. Fayt and Mrs. Leingod turned to her. "Maybe we have to get sucked back in. The way I see it, the Eternal Sphere was first and foremost a game, its programming is designed to create individuals, places, generate events that will place the balance of power back into sync. We, being Fayt, Sophia and I, are three of the most powerful beings ever spurned by the Eternal Sphere. Maybe our job isn't finished," she finished grimly.

"Yes, well whatever and however it may be, I want to keep you three out of this for as long as possible," Mrs. Leingod responded firmly. Kai seemed to notice Mrs. Leingod tightly grasp the end of her skirt, but wasn't sure if it was intentional or just a spastic motion.

"Right, and I think the 4D beings are trying to push us to this brink of war so we can tear each other up, then be ripe for the picking so to speak."

"We'll have to consult Mirage, about how to approach this issue and how it may spark controversy within the council. God knows she's been having trouble with some of the ambassadors lately."

"Trouble, how so?" Maria asked.

"Well some of the politicians are attempting to attain more political influence, and has been directly usurping her position on the defense council as of late," Mrs. Leingod replied. "Oh but before I forget, there is some good news, depending on how you look at it."

"Yes?" Fayt asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, Alistair would have killed Cliff and Eric Maverick if not for three children who miraculously appeared and literally beat him."

"Where are these children now?" Maria asked curiously.

"They are under the custody of Albel and Nel, with the 7th fleet right now."

"I'd like to speak to the two of them," Fayt said.

Mrs. Leingod nodded, "I have them on line 1. Computer patch them through." The lights dimmed slightly as the projections of Nel and Albel appeared on the screen.

"Madam Leingod," Nel said curtly, Albel simply grunted in recognition.

"Commanders Zelpher, and Nox, I have Maria and Fayt here."

"How's your vacation been maggots?" Albel asked with a sarcastic grin, as his projection turned towards the two of them.

"We've missed you too princess," Maria responded.

"Albel, give me a status report on these children, when did you first encounter them? And then give me a rundown on Cliff's and Maverick's encounter with Alistair."

Albel and Nel recounted their encounters with the children in the Arenite Republic and told them about their fight with Rhyse, Alistair, and finished recounting with the crystal they had found.

"A lot has hapanned in our absence," Fayt responded slowly. "Keep the children in your custody, train them to fight, we may need them soon enough. Based on Maverick's report, they might be just as strong as the three of us, if not stronger."

"Commander Nox, this crystal, you said you heard shrieking voices in your head?"

"Yes m'am."

"Blood red…you may have just described one of the Crystals of Origin."

"Crystals of Origin? Oh you mean the Crystals of Muah?" Maria asked.

"Yes well they are called that, but it is an inaccurate name because these crystals have been documented in history even before the Muah were active."

"Wait M'am do you mean the God Particle Crystals?" Kai asked.

"Hold on what are these crystals, Muah, am I the only one confused here?" Fayt asked. Nel and Albel shook their heads and declared they were just as confused.

"Well first off, these crystals have many names, they have been mentioned in various references universe wide. It is thought that symbological energy in the entire universe originates from them. In Earth's case the crystals are thought to be involved in the very creation of our sun, thus the "Big Bang" theory isn't very far off. Secondly, there are four of them scattered throughout this universe."

"Also, they are similar to OPAs, like the sacred orb," Maria told Nel and Albel.

"Symbological Engineers, as well as normal engineers call them the God Particle crystals since they are thought to be able to supply limitless amounts of energy. Mainstream engineers are beginning to accept that matter may have stemmed from these crystals, hence the term 'God Particle'."

"That's right, and incidentally our research that we performed on you two and Sophia was based on these God Particle crystals," Mrs. Leingod said.

"Hold on I thought our genes were based on the 10 Wise Men?" Maria asked.

"Well, their source of energy were the crystals; the origins of the work the scientist that created the Ten."

"That's why I know about them, they were mentioned in the files I read," Maria responded.

"Hang on, if they act like OPAs, then aren't they some sort of encoded program within the Eternal Sphere that serve some sort of administrative purpose? Such as the sacred orb, it granted us access to Firewall."

"It is possible, further research is required," Mrs. Leingod responded.

"Clearly Alistair knows something that we don't and thus these crystals can't be ignored, the only bad thing is we don't know how or where to start looking for them," Maria responded.

"Right, for now you three finish the semester, I'll keep up the work on this end and do more research on all of this," Mrs. Leingod finished.

"Nel, Albel keep a close watch on those kids, also take some time off, go back to Elicoor, take the fleet with you, we'll have the 25th fleet relieve your duties for the time being. I'm sure our unit needs some rest," Fayt responded.

"Roger," Nel responded while Albel gave his customary grunt.

"I will see you children later, I have a meeting with Mirage and am already running late, if you will excuse me," she said as she grabbed her suitcase and exited her office. She jammed her suitcase in between the sliding doors before leaving and poked her head back into the room, "Fayt please do something about your face."

Fayt made a face while Maria laughed and walked over to him, straightening his shirt. "You still have some explaining to do."

Kai gulped and took that as his cue to leave the room, "Yo, Uh I just need to use the restroom…" he said excusing himself and scurried out of the room. He walked into the waiting area and hid behind one of the couches as he watched the drama unfold.

Fayt walked around her for a little bit, with his hands behind his back, as if thinking of what he was going to tell her. Maria kept smiling as if it was some game that they were playing. But Fayt finally stopped pacing and straightened his face and Kai saw his lips move and soon the grin on Maria's face slowly faded.

She lowered her head and then turned to leave the room. She passed through the transparent sliding doors and Kai crept closer to the sofa so she wouldn't see him. As she was close to passing by him she bolted in the opposite direction, slid through the glass doors as if it was air, and radiating with blue energy, tackled Fayt out of the window.

"HOLY SHIT!" Kai exclaimed and ran back into the office and watched the fight unfold. As Fayt was hurtling towards the ground Maria conjured huge ice spikes and threw them at Fayt.

Fayt regained balance and then ripped through the huge stalagmites with a shimmering blade of energy he conjured from his palm. He twisted around in mid-air and disintegrated the ice spikes so they wouldn't harm anyone below. This gave Maria a window to manipulate the air around him to catch him in a bubble of air, so he couldn't move.

"Maria let's t-talk about this," Fayt gasped as his air supply was dwindling. Maria didn't respond as her face contorted in anger and she tightened her fist and the bubble snared him further. Fayt was about to pass out until a burst of golden energy erupted from his body and he broke free of his air prison.

His bodysplit into two, and Fayt's blonde haired doppelganger caught him as he fell to the ground. "Maria! Be reasonable, let's talk this out! I know what Fayt did was wrong but…oh boy," Ronyx lamely muttered as the same golden light resonated around Maria and her body split into two.

"Who the..?" Fayt asked as he looked at a blonde version of Maria.

"Renna," Ronyx moaned as the female doppelganger proceeded to help her charge.

"WHAT THE HECK YOU"RE ME!" Maria cried.

Renna smiled sweetly then said, "Hey, I'm Renna, nice to meet you! I'm your other half; I'll explain but let's put the beat down on those guys over there." Maria's look of confusion melted into a triumph grin as she nodded and took Renna's hand.

As she did Risa spun around like a top in a span of 2 seconds and then threw Maria like a shot-put at Fayt, this caught the other two off guard, but Ronyx was able to intercept her and bat her away like a fly. While Risa sped across the ground, she encased Fayt in an ice coffin, and then sent him flying with a vicious kick that tossed up shards of ice impaling Fayt.

Maria's eyes glowed blue and she hit Fayt with an energy burst from her palms. Fayt prepared to dodge the burst but the beam split into multiple rays and beams. The scattered bursts were difficult to dodge, three beams crossed his left side which he was able to dodge then three more beams from either side caught him, creating a pretty light show.

"Renna!" Ronyx cried as he shot her with a green burst of light from his eyes which stopped her dead in her tracks.

"That's no fair babe!" she cried.

"Look I told you that you're a bitch sometimes," he said crossly. "Let the kids handle their own problems."

"HEY! I wasn't the one who appeared first!" she cried attempting to shoot her tongue at him, but found it immobilized. Ronyx smiled then gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

Fayt and Maria were soon locked in close hand-hand combat. Maria was unleashing a fury of punches and kicks, while Fayt blocked them and attempted to reason with her at the same time.

"Maria, look, let's…Talk…About this!" he cried as he hooked her leg and tried to spin her around and put her in an arm bar. As he spun her by the foot she kicked her opposite one around and hit Fayt's face like a whip. She let her body fall backwards and then as she landed on her hands she pushed herself back towards Fayt, feet first, kicking him squarely in the chest.

She found herself on top of him and then began to punch his face furiously until he was able to bring his arms up to block her. Soon energy bursts were coming from her palms and then to Fayt's surprise he felt drops of rain on his forearms, but no not rain: tears. Maria was crying. He waited until he found an opening and then quickly embraced her, and patted her back as she cried.

She pushed him back for a second, her face a teary mess; Fayt was about to brush her hair back as her face slowly contorted into rage again and hit him with a stinging blast of energy that sent him flying about 20 feet away. She savagely blasted him until she flew away and Ronyx let Renna go after her.

Fayt groaned and attempted to move but finally stopped moving, acknowledging the futility of his actions. The heavy clouds finally succumbed and rain showers descended upon the Federal City. Hot tears began to form in his eyes and had no idea what he was going to do. "Fuck," he said simply then passed out. Ronyx walked over and poked Fayt's face and shook his head.

"You idiot," he said plainly as he picked him up and returned him to his mother's office, and an awestruck Kai. He laid him on a couch then turned to Kai, "Take care of this idiot for me will ya?" he asked then disappeared.

About an hour prior…

Mrs. Leingod walked at a brisk pace down the hall, trying to hide her elation at seeing Fayt again, despite his current situation as well as her daughter in law-to-be. Her brisk pace brought her to a transporter room, she politely greeted the soldier operating it and allowed the light to package her body and transport her to the new Council building that had been built in the Federal Square.

She exhaled as the tingling sensation of transportation always caught her off guard. She exited the transporter and her assistant Rachel handed her a data tablet. "M'am how are you today?"

"Fine Rachel, what is new?"

"Well The Arenite Republic has sent ambassadors to offer a formal apology for the entire debacle. We have a meeting with them two days from now on Wednesday. The Galactic Council recently voted on the trade bill which you proposed."

"Good news or bad news?"

"Only good madam."

"Excellent. Have the European and African Delegations imposed the structural reforms I've proposed?"

"Yes M'am, they've drafted formal plans and I will have them on your desk by tomorrow morning."

"Anything else?"

"No, except I think you'd like to know that Ambassadors Wifra and Gordon will be joining your meeting with Madam Mirage."

"Really? I guess I'll find out why," she responded, thinking about asking Rachel about the circumstances of this rare reunion. But realized that she would find out in the forthcoming proceedings.

Mrs. Leingod had yet to visit Mirage at her new office space, so she allowed Rachel to lead the way. She stopped outside a door labeled '206' and handed her a transparent key card. "Just walk right through Madam, the card recognizes your touch alone, and you can just walk through-."

"I know Rachel, I designed the system, it's based on symbology actually, but I'll spare you the details." Rachel laughed and gestured for her to enter the room. She strode past her assistant and walked through the door as if it were water, but felt the mechanism detect her card; scanning her body as she felt tingling sensations from her head to toe. As if tiny hairs were being plucked from one's head.

Mrs. Leingod successfully passed through the door to see three people seated around a low sitting coffee table resting on top a fuzzy brown carpet. The three seemed to be laughing, sharing a joke, until Mrs. Leingod's entrance grabbed their attention.

"Ryoko, it's been a while," Wifra said, as she rose from her seat, pressing her suit flat, and giving her a toothy smile, showing her multiple jagged rows of teeth.

"Wifra, nice to see you again. Gordon, you look well," she responded as she offered a hand to the Aldian ambassador.

"It seems we've all adjusted well to our administrative positions now," Ryoko said, half-heartedly.

"I don't miss the fighting for one second, I'm happy to have relinquished my post to my subordinate, Commander Luwig," Wifra said as she re-acquainted herself in her seat.

"Well hopefully we can prolong this relatively peaceful period."

"Bah, those separatist forces are a pain, they fail to share our vision," Gordon said sternly.

"So Mirage why are four of the founding and current members of the Defense Council joined here today?" Ryoko asked.

"Because, the stability of the Galactic Council is threatened." Mrs. Leingod seemed a bit shocked at how she would know about her recent findings, since she had yet to bring the report to their attention.

"Two senators, one from the Earth legislation. And a politician from the planet of Sylar is causing unrest among the council. He keeps trying to make the Defense Council look like a group of power hungry elitists. He is complaining about how the Defense Council was not voted upon and the qualifications we wrote into law pertaining to Defense Council membership."

"Well that is undisputable! First you need a set amount of armaments to be able to contribute to galactic wide security. Secondly, political structure is key as well," Gordon rebuked.

"Precisely, these laws are just and were voted upon. This senator Yago Junto, really came out of the blue to be honest. They had a different representative three weeks prior. I did a background check on him and Senator Yago had no previous political experience except for working for an embassy on their planet as a young adult. Afterwards he deteriorated and got involved in the murky black market and then until about 4 years ago he began an internship for their global government under their First Ambassador."

"What a case, his appointment seems a little fishy," Mrs. Leingod muttered and then looked at Mirage. They seemed to be thinking on the same wavelength. _4D_ _Tampering perhaps?_

"Captain Gordon, forgive me for going off on a tangent, but our laws do require that a planet's peoples aren't enslaved or oppressed in anyways. I was under the impression that the Aldians were run from a central unit, sucking you all of any individuality," Wifra asked.

"Me? Devoid of individuality? Unheard of! Well, if you must know, the Aldian Empire was once ruled by a lone dictator. He was housed in the central cortex, where he housed the individuality of every Aldian born, essentially he took our 'spirits' and stored them in the 'vault'. Aldians are born 'asleep'; our parents are required to initiate our consciousness by giving our minds a mental push, which is why Aldians are known for our mental fortitude. Once they do that they strip us of our individuality and telepathically transmit it to the leader. We automatically gain the knowledge of how we must act from our parents, and in turn they get it from the leader."

"However, when the Executioners attacked, the leader experienced a wave of emotions; namely fear that he couldn't contain. He alone had to shoulder the thoughts, ambitions and cries for help of all our souls. More importantly the massive pain and loss he experienced through all that death. He also realized that if he was killed our race would be lost. So he released us, then as far as I could remember, everything was black for a while. Despite regaining my 'soul' everything was dark as if I was suspended in time; I could think for myself but couldn't move. Couldn't feel, couldn't do anything. Then life resumed and I was in my captain's chair once more in space, with my thoughts inside my head."

Mirage looked curiously at the Aldian, she had completely disregarded the fact that the Aldians were controlled by one central figurehead. "I experienced something similar," Wifra interjected, "I remember getting orders from Commander Biwig to head to Elicoor, to assist in the capture of Leingod in retrospect. I prepped my ship, mid-warp I heard that Biwig had been defeated and I was ordered to track the _Aquaelie_. A couple days after, life seemed to pause, now that I recall it, it felt sporadic. Mere seconds, but it persisted, as if I was in my captain's chair for an eternity. Then, it resumed and a couple weeks later I received new orders again and met up with Gordon and the rest is well history."

_Curious, so that is how our final encounter with the Creator went for others in the Eternal Sphere. As Luther went on his deleting rampage life seemed to pause for deleted beings, while we remained in motion. I wonder how it went down for Mrs. Leingod._

"Wow Gordon, what happened to the leader?" Mrs. Leingod asked.

"Oh he is still around; we have kept him as an elder councilman. But he went mad from the pain and suffering he experienced during the attack, half the time he speaks gibberish, no one can understand him. Sometimes he speaks coherent words but they are jumbled and random, never stringing a straight sentence."

"Hm, looks like we got sidetracked, I apologize for my question, what about the Earth statesman?" Wifra frowned.

"Oh! Right, the Prime Minister of Great Britain is speaking out on symbology and symbological users roaming the galaxy. He says laws should be placed on symbology and symbological users, he claims it gives them an advantage over non-symbological users, as most humans are."

Ryoko was about to respond, but a ringing noise disrupted the peace, it was Rachel. "Sorry to disrupt your conference esteemed council members but I think you all will want to see this, especially you Mrs. Leingod." Ryoko looked puzzled as the lights dimmed and a large projection appeared on the wall.

A banner "breaking news" was flashing on the screen as a curly haired reporter was enthusiastically covering it. "I am here outside the Federal Square as two Earth Federation and Galactic Council Reconissance Commanders are duking it out like super heroes! It seems they've gotten into a dispute of some sorts. They are currently fighting it out. Here is footage from earlier if you are just joining us!"

Ryoko watched as Maria tackled Fayt out of the building and shot ice picks at her son. They zoomed in on the action and played it in slow motion. Ryoko looked on miserably as she watched Maria's enraged face.

"Oh! Now there are four of them!" Ryoko looked on curiously as Fayt and Maria's dopplegangers appeared and they fought for some more time. "And the contest is decided as the female takes the win and flies off to who knows where. This is Jim Lawlor-," the tv cut as Ryoko turned the screen off.

"Great just what we needed, a good example of symbological recklessness," Mirage muttered, turning to Ryoko, "Weren't you just with those two?"

Ryoko didn't respond, "This is gonna be one hell of a PR nighmare," she moaned.

* * *

:)


	9. It's Called Beer Pong and I Can't Lose

Disclaimer: Again I don't own Star Ocean or Beer Pong haha!

* * *

Fayt lay on his bed staring up at the ceiling, then pressed the bottle he clutched in his fist to his lips. He coughed as he tipped the bottle at a sharp angle as a golden liquid poured all over his shirt as he coughed and spluttered beer. Fayt chugged the bottle and slammed it on his coffee table next to 14 other bottles.

It had been a few weeks since the incident and Maria had not returned home. Fayt decided his only course of action was to drink himself into a paraplegic stupor. He had tried calling her multiple times but she never picked up. Kai had dropped him off, and to Kai's displeasure, he returned the car as well.

* * *

Fayt slowly tilted his head to look at his table clock, the digital clock flashed 5:00 PM. He rested his head on his pillow, too lazy and discouraged to move.

"Come on Maria, let's go out tonight," a girl nagged.

"Hazel you know I don't really like drinking or clubbing, I find it pointless and a waste of time. Besides I wouldn't have anything to wear."

"Please, give me a real problem. Lack of clothing is totally easy, I can get you club ready in one afternoon. Besides you need a pick-me up to get over your asshole of a boyfriend."

"I-I don't need a pick me up. I'm sure things will end up alright, I just don't wanna talk to that knucklehead right now."

"What you're still considering getting back together with him?!"

"Well yeah."

"What heck no, you should dump his ass and make him regret cheating on you in the first place!"

Maria sighed, _Petty teenaged drama. I'm glad I avoided high school altogether. _"Fine, let's go out tonight," she gave in and scrunched her nose. _What was that asshole thinking? How could he do that to me? After all we've been through, the connection we share…he'd give that all up just to make out with another girl?_

She banished the thoughts from her head and allowed her excited friend to take her out shopping.

"Wow I've never ridden in a Ferrari before!" Hazel exclaimed as Maria drove silently. "Well that's one reason to stay with your boyfriend I guess."

Maria chuckled to herself and silently agreed, "Where are we going again?"

"Q street! That's where all the hottest shops are. Come on girl you really need to get out more."

Maria gave her a stale face and pressed hard on the gas which shot Hazel's head backwards straight into the seat.

Kai scratched his head as he looked at a girl in front of him trying on an outfit. "I mean I guess it looks good," he shrugged.

"Kai, come on its awesome, don't you care how your girlfriend looks?"

"Emily you're not my girlfriend," he sighed.

"I wasn't saying that, just if I was, you should show the girl that you actually slightly care about her appearance."

"Well obviously if she was my girlfriend, I'd actually care about her appearance," he smirked.

"Excuse me? I am still a female and deserve respect!" she pouted.

"Sorry, I'm just worried about Fayt. He's been drinking ever since the incident."

"Well it was really stupid of him," Emily replied as she crossed her arms. "She's so beautiful and nice, he couldn't do better."

"Yeah, considering," he mumbled as his voice dropped off recalling the fight he saw between his two friends. _I had no idea how powerful those two really were._ _They are truly meant for one another, I could easily see Maria killing a guy if he got on her nerves._

"Hey isn't that Maria?" Emily asked.

"It can't be that dress is way too hot," he replied but the girl turned around and his jaw dropped, "My mistake that is her."

"Oh that's Hazel! She's in my sociology class. Hazel! Hey!" Emily cried but felt a hard rapture on her head. She looked back and smacked Kai hard on his arm.

Maria spun her head around and pulled her hair back as she looked around for Hazel only to see her prancing towards an arguing couple, spotting Kai's tall figure. She bit her lower lip, thinking of Fayt instantly and walked over.

"Emily, oh my gosh are you and Kai out on a date?!" Hazel asked.

"Well apparently I'm can't hold his interest for more than two seconds."

"Men are all pigs then, huh Kai?" Maria asked coldly as she waltzed over.

"Maria, men may be pigs but also sheep led astray by a foul herder."

"Anyways oh my god Emily I'm so glad I ran into you, we should so go out tonight! We should go that new club Edge, on Jupiter Street! It'll be fun me and Maria are going you and Kai should come, that is if you don't find her too boring Kai."

"I never! Ugh, women. Maria can I talk to you for a second?" he asked and pulled her quickly to the side.

"What do you want, friend of Fayt?" she pouted.

"Are you still angry? Look I was there when this happened Fayt was drunk off his rocker, he couldn't tell his left leg from his right foot. Can you please just respond to his calls?"

"No, don't you understand he hurt me? He may have been drunk and didn't mean to hurt my feelings or do what he did. But he didn't have to get that drunk."

"But, just tell me you understand. I know how much you two have been through together so just try and give him a second chance. We're young, REALLY young under normal circumstances we're still looking for our soul mates whereas you two have already found each other."

"I just need some time ok? Look I don't mind if you come along tonight to the club with us, I have nothing personal against you. In fact you're a really nice person Kai, and I highly value you as a friend. Just don't bring Fayt along, I don't want to kill him," she joked.

"Alright, I get that you need time, and I gotta say that dress does look really good on you."

"Get out of here," she laughed as he grinned in response and walked back towards the other two girls.

"So we'll meet at Edge at 10:30 tonight?" Hazel asked Emily and Kai.

"Yup, Kai will be there too because I need a ride," she said sternly. Kai moaned and stayed silent but nodded.

"Great see you guys later!" Emily cried happily as she and Maria got in line to pay for their clothes.

"You're not gonna invite Fayt are you?" Emily asked.

"Nope," Kai responded as he pulled out his communicator and began to jab away at the keyboard.

"Then whom are you sending a script message to?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Jake."

"Jake knows Fayt. What are you texting him?'

"Party at Edge tonight," he responded simply.

"But then he'll invite Fayt…"

"Yes, but she never said I couldn't invite other friends, and its out of my power if our friends find it in their noble souls to invite our good friend Fayt."

"You are devious; do you have a plan to get them back together?"

"Nope. You're a girl that's where you are supposed to come in."

"Oh now you need me," she responded rolling her eyes and crossing her arms again. "Alright I'll script message Hazel, this is gonna be fun."

* * *

Fayt was snoring when electric-house beats hit his ears and he jumped up to pick up his communicator, forgetting that it was surrounded by about fourteen bottles of beer.

"Script message…" he mumbled.

_Fayt, Club Edge tonight, 10:30 be there. Bring chicks. :D –Jake P.S. you owe me 30 bucks from three weekends ago you asshole._

Fayt sighed, " Let's see if Solenn and Samantha are free tonight…" Fayt picked himself up and gingerly made his way to the shower across the broken glass.

* * *

"10:45, you think he's still coming?" Emily asked Kai.

"I don't know, but Maria's already inside right?" he asked.

Emily checked her scripts first then nodded, "Yup Hazel just bought her her first shot."

"Excellent, hey look there's Jake, Jake bud over here!" Kai exclaimed and ushered his friend to their spot in line.

"God, I hate waiting in line for clubs, thanks for holding a spot, hey guys!" Jake called over a couple more students over.

Kai examined their faces, disappointed, "Where's Fayt, Jake?"

"I don't know, I scripted him. Maybe he's picking up the girls, I told him to bring chicks."

"You what?" he asked as Emily smacked her face.

"Oh boy," she muttered.

"What?" Jake asked and right on cue, a sleek orange Lamborghini drove up to the valet boy. A man with blue hair, slicked back and a trim black suit exited the vehicle with sliding doors with a certain air of swagger. He strode over to the passenger side with an arrogant smirk, lifted the door handle and it rose up slowly as he extended a hand towards the dark interior.

It was met by a pale, porcelain hand and a girl in a revealing white dress exited the vehicle, wearing tall leopard skin heels. As the door rose to its limit, it revealed that there was another girl whom the first was sitting on her lap wearing a tight red dress. Fayt chucked the keys to the valet boy and strode over to the ladies, walking with one in each arm. Some reporters to the side snapped bright photos.

"We are really in the shit now," Kai muttered.

"My man Fayt whaddupppp!" Jake exclaimed as he high fived and pulled Fayt into an embrace.

Kai hung his head _Dumbasses…_he thought.

"Jakenesss!" Fayt exclaimed. "Let me introduce you to Solenn and Samantha," as he pointed at the girls in the white and red dresses respectively.

"Ladies it is a pleasure to meet you. Hm Solenn, I can't get an exact read on your beautiful mix."

She laughed slightly, "I'm French-Japanese."

"A beautiful combination that is," Jake smiled, "And Samantha?"

"I'm American through and through," she responded.

"God Bless America," Fayt said stupidly as he mimicked a salute.

"Why are you guys still waiting in line? I had my connections hook us up, we're on the VIP list," Fayt responded.

"Connections?" Solenn asked.

"Oh well through this one promoter, his dad is a Commander that owed me a favor," Fayt responded.

"Well doesn't everyone owe you a favor Mr. Leingod, you did save the universe," Solenn responded playfully.

"What can I say, I'm awesome."

"Hey awesome guy can you spare a second for your friend?" Kai asked angrily.

"Of course buddy, what's up?" he asked as he put an arm around Kai.

Kai looked at him, his pupils slightly dilated already. "Forget it, let's have some fun pal." _You don't deserve fair warning, and if Maria decides to kill you, to heck with it._

"Fuck yeah man," Fayt said uncharacteristically, put his arms around Solenn's waist and entered the club, tipping the bouncer on the way in. "They're all with me."

The bouncer happily let them in, counting the credits on his communicator. They had only been in the dimly lit nightclub for a couple seconds when a waiter went up to them and said, "Good evening Mr. Leingod, I'm Keith and will be your host tonight, round of shots for you group sir?" he asked as a floating tray of shots flew over towards them. Fayt shrugged and took their first round happily.

"This way to the VIP section sir," Keith said as he led Fayt up a set of stairs to the upper level overlooking the main dance floor and DJ box. He stopped at a group of comfy chairs and a center table with a new set of shots for their group. He placed a menu next to it at a slight angle and said, "Order anything you'd like sir."

"Thank you Keith," Fayt responded and patted Keith on his shoulder as he walked away.

* * *

"Was that Fayt?" Maria asked as she spotted a large group enter the club and go up to the VIP section. She eyed the blue-haired figure from afar tightly grasping a tall and attractive woman by her waist.

"Uh no, I don't think so!" Hazel cried. "Zoe keep an eye on her!"

"Where are you going?" Maria asked.

"Uh Bathroom!"

"I'll go with you."

"No, no stay here, enjoy, I need to make an important call."

"Here Maria lets take another shot!" the blonde haired girl named Zoe exclaimed, her voice slightly slurred. Maria nodded, attempting to remove the image of the Fayt look-alike. _He wouldn't_ she thought as she fought back the tears and let the liquor burn her throat.

"Kai what is going on?" Hazel asked.

"Fayt's an asshole."

"So that was him?" she nodded.

"Kai! You made it," Maria exclaimed as she walked toward them.

"M-Maria hey…you look great!"

"Thanks so do you, so what does one do at a frivolous place such as this?"

"Well obviously there's dancing!" he yelled over the music, then the DJ sounded him out. "Alright everyone we are gonna start our VIP beer pong tournament. I'm looking for one Kai Lee, you need a partner my friend, you have the first game!"

Kai seemed surprised then looked at Maria, "Let's go Beer Pong partner," he said confidently, hooked her arm and brought her to the VIP section, up the stairs where they were setting up tables and filling up cups with beer.

"Kaii! Where have you been pal we're about to start!" Jake yelled furiously, as he had one arm tightly around Samantha's butt.

"Yeah Kai where'd you-," Fayt asked as he cut his conversation with Solenn and spun around and saw Maria.

"Maria!" he exclaimed. She didn't respond and took a shot from the table.

"I think we have a game to win Kai," she responded as she shook her arms as the shot hit her.

"Right, so who are we demolishing?"

"Pal, you are no match for me and this beautiful woman," Jake said drunkenly as he pointed at Samantha.

"That's meeee!" she cried happily.

"Alright let's start," as Kai stepped up to the edge of the table and a small white pong ball was bounced towards him. "Eye to eye?" he asked Keith. Keith nodded and then Kai shifted his gaze to Jake who could barely stand straight.

"1…2..3, go!" Jake cried as he flung the ball and hit Fayt in the neck.

Maria laughed, "Good shot Jakey boy!" as Kai's shot hit the first cup at the top of the 6 cup diamond.

"This is gonna be quick…" Kai muttered as he aimed then released his shot, with plenty of arc. Finding the first cup for a second time in a row. "Alright just relax and put a good amount of arc in your shot."

Maria wasn't listening as she looked at Fayt for a quick second then beamed the ball towards the opposing set of cups, and like a laser her ball found a cup as a small splash of beer fell onto the table.

"Hey ohhhh that's a roll back!" Kai exclaimed and gave Maria a high five. "Let's go for the jugular partner, haha!" They made quick work of the next three cups.

"Drink the fuck up!" Maria exclaimed. Everyone looked at her a bit surprised, but people continued to cheer and dance. Jake scored a cup and Maria drained the cup in a second. Kai took a shot at the last cup but the ball kissed the edge and fell onto the floor.

Maria exhaled, soaking in the pressure and let it steel her focus. She aimed it as Jake and Samantha covered the cup, swirled their hands around it and pointed at them, trying to distract them from hitting the last cup. She exhaled pumped her arm and looped her shot releasing the ball at a high point and found the cup.

Everyone cheered and exclaimed she hugged Kai, who lifted her up. "Nextt!" the pair exclaimed. They sat down in a pair of chairs to the side as the next game commenced between Fayt and Solenn vs. an unknown pair of party goers.

"You ok?" Kai asked as she looked at Fayt with a death-like stare.

"Fine," she lied. As Fayt lost the eye-to-eye and the other pair missed both shots. He got a cup as Solenn won a bounce, knocking out three cups.

"Look at that mess," Kai smiled as he pointed towards a very drunk Jake and Samanthat, furiously making out on one of the sofas, until they rolled over onto the ground, but continued their session. Maria laughed half-heartedly then beckoned for them to take another shot.

Two rounds later…

"Alright we're at our final match between Fayt and Solenn vs. Maria and Kai," Keith announced.

First the boys shot eye to eye and they both missed. Next the girls went up and they looked at each other, Maria looked extremely tense, and Fayt slightly feared for his partner's life. But the tense moment passed as they released their balls simultaneously and Maria's shot found the center cup while Solenn's shot went wayward.

"Nice good job tex!" Kai exclaimed, as he did Keith put two shots on their side of the table.

"Shots for every missed shot!"

"Ohhhhhhh!" the crowd exclaimed.

"Clutch time…" Kai muttered. They watched as their competitors toasted and downed the shots. Kai and Maria put two shots wide. Keith popped up to their left and pushed two shots on the table.

"Alright partner let's do this," Fayt said seriously. Solenn nodded in response, Fayt confidently tossed his shot, marking the top cup. Then, Solenn got the edge cup to the left.

"ROLLBACKKKK!" Keith yelled into the microphone. Fayt whispered something into Solenn's ear and she nodded as she took a quick shot, getting a cup, while Fayt went for a bounce right immediately after her shot but Maria furiously whipped it away.

"Get that shit outta here!" she cried, as raucous cheers erupted around her. Fayt grudgingly took his shot and felt his knees buckle, while Solenn stretched an arm out to stabilize him.

"Come on partner we still got a game to finish."

Maria's blood boiled as their hands touched and fired right as the ball was bounced to her, getting the edge cup on the left straight away. Kai aimed and hit the rim of the middle cup and it slowly rolled in and spun around the cup, Fayt tried to pop it out with his finger but it hit the beer and fished out the ball and chugged the piss-water.

Fayt and Solenn rolled back the balls to them, as Kai called for the island, and expertly got it. "That's two buddy!" Kai exclaimed happily as Maria hit another laser that hit the table, popped up and clocked Fayt in the eye.

"Sorry Fayt," she said sourly.

"Let's end this and get a re-rack Solenn," Fayt asked and she nodded in response

"Can you guys give us a diamond?" Solenn asked, motioning with her arms, making a triangle with her hands. Kai re-arranged the final three cups.

"Make em kiss pal, and Gentleman's, if you please," he asked as Kai made sure the rims of the cups were touching and were at the edge of the table. Two expertly looped shots left one cup left. The balls were rolled back and Fayt lined it up, shot it and made it, while Solenn got it too.

They were about to celebrate when Keith yelled, "Elbows! They get redemption."

"That was not elbows!" Fayt cried like a child.

"BOOOOOOOO! Elbows! ELBOWS!" the crowd cried.

"This is bullshit!" Solenn cried and the two were silenced as two carefully placed shots found their mark, and Maria made notched the third.

"Overtime! Add two more cups!" Keith cried. Kai expertly made a shot while Maria's hit the space in between where the cups kissed and fell lamely to the floor.

Solenn impressively got the top cup as the pressure shifted onto Fayt once more. Fayt examined his surroundings, drunken college students all around cheering and dancing then noticed the ceiling lights hanging above the table. He smiled as he faked a pump shot then flung it at the light closest to their set of cups.

Kai laughed as he thought Fayt had choked but his eyes flickered and shifted to horror as he attempted to swat the ball, but missed it and fell onto the beer soaked floor. It found a cup with a satisfying 'splash'.

"That's two! Redemption!" Kai's shot missed, and then Maria felt all the eyes focus on her. As if they were boring into the periosteal layer of her bone. She shot it, but knew she had missed as she released it, the ball slightly slipped from her grasp and went wide, going well past the table.

Solenn jumped up and down and furiously grabbed Fayt and kissed him. Fayt didn't seem to object as he lifted her leg up and they soon found the couch again.

"OH YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Keith yelled as the inebriated crowd went wild and girls began to violently grind on the guys. Maria was stunned and ran down the stairs, pushing other people out of the way. Kai cursed Fayt and ran after her.

"Maria!" Hazel cried as she chased after her but Kai told her to stay put. She burst out of the club into the pouring rain and looked up at the furious downpour.

"Maria! What the hell are you doing!" as he ran over and hugged her, trying to shield her from the rain. She tried to speak but she could only scream and cry. Kai inclined her head, wiped away the tears, not knowing or sure what to do next, kissed her, and embraced her tightly.

* * *

"So I guess the wedding is off."

"Mom, well, for now yes. Can we at least entertain my guest for now?" Fayt asked, referring to the slim and attractive female sitting on the couch in the other room.

"Fayt Leingod. I raised you better than this, I don't know how you could do this to Maria, and frankly she deserves better. Despite that, she seems like a rather sensible girl and she is indeed very beautiful, I honestly don't know how you land all these hotties, sweety."

"Mom!"

"Don't mom me! I suppose you are still young and proposing marriage at such a young age is impractical and unrealistic. What will be will be, in the meantime however, I disapprove of your recent shenanigans! You've been popping up in the press too much lately and thus I have to put my foot down and forbid you from going clubbing or consuming alcohol."

Fayt lowered his head to the ground and understood, he knew better than to contest his mother. He knew he was certainly at fault and accepted his recent failures.

"Yes?"

"Yes m'am."

"Good now, introduce me to this girl as I figure out how you could have landed her." Fayt sighed in response and pushed the door open.

* * *

"Well that wasn't awkward at all," Solenn said sweetly, placing a hand on Fayt's leg.

"Sorry, the circumstances are just a bit complicated, and I really didn't think she'd be home."

"I'm aware of the 'complications' Mr. Leingod, and I'll tell you now that I'm not just a pretty face, I won't accept being your 'flavor of the week'."

"Damn, you caught me red-handed," he joked as she playfully punched him.

"But at the same time I do genuinely like you Fayt, and I want to see how far this can go."

"Well that's good news because the feelings are mutual."

She laughed, "Quit being so formal, jeez. Relax a little. Have you talked to her since?"

"Nope."

"And Kai?"

Fayt's fist tightened as he thought about Kai and Maria 'engaging' in a similar agreement he and Solenn had. But he realized he had no right to be angry, especially deep down inside he had wanted to try seeing other people. But still he felt a little betrayed that one of his closer friends had done that to him.

"Nope," he frowned but quickly turned into a smile as he grabbed her dress, "my mom won't be back till the morning."

"Are you sure about that now? What if she comes back in the middle of the act?" she asked.

"Well doesn't it make the proposition all that hotter?" She responded with a devilish grin.

"Where's your bedroom junior?" she asked and grabbed him by his collar.

* * *

Maria watched the raindrops on her window slide down the smooth and transparent surface. She attempted to track two at a time, seeing which one would crawl down the window the fastest until they diverted directions altogether, then she would repeat it until the throbbing pain in her head forced her to lay back down and pull the covers over herself.

_Stupid Fayt making me go to that club and run out into that rain. Stupid fever. _She sighed as she recalled how Fayt had taken care of her a couple months ago when she was sick; she longed to return to those times but mentally slapped herself, reminding how much her had hurt her. It always wound up back to Fayt. She heard a knocking on the door and said, "Enter."

"Hey Maria are you feeling better?" Hazel asked. Maria pulled the sheets back to expose her head.

"A little bit, what's up?"

"Oh well _Kai_ dropped by and is waiting outside, he brought you soup!"

"Oh let him in! And thanks again for letting me stay with you."

"It is no problem at all! I had an extra room and I enjoy the company, it'll be even better when you're not sick anymore!" she turned around and happily sang, "Come on in Kai."

"Hey there," Kai waved happily as he put a small aluminum cup and spoon on her bedside.

"T-Thanks Kai, you didn't have to," Maria responded shyly as she got up to retrieve the cup of soup. Kai quickly stopped her, swiped the spoon from her and proceeded to attempt to feed her.

"You're in no condition to feed yourself." She finally gave in and let him feed her spoonfuls of soup. "Maria can I be honest here?"

"Hm? What are you talking about?"

"M-My feelings, I've always uh liked you, ever since we first met through Fayt, I knew it was wrong, to be attracted to an engaged woman, nevertheless the fiancé of a close friend."

She seemed stunned; she knew they'd have to talk about their arrangement sooner or later. "Kai that's really sweet, but unfortunately I'm not really sure of where I stand right now and I can't commit my feelings to you either. Although I do like you as well, my heart is still a bit bruised from what I just went through, I hope you understand."

Looking a bit crestfallen he smiled and responded, "I understand and I'm patient. Even though you were Fayt's fiancé and despite everything between Fayt and I, I feel like I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I didn't at least try and pursue this."

"Well in that case, I understand as well, and one thing you need to know about me is that usually; I'm a very reserved person. I don't like voicing my emotions. So I don't want to close the door on this either, I'm just saying, bear with me."

"Good, I'm a patient person, so let's just take it slow then," as he sat next to her on the bed and turned the TV on.

* * *

Yups we are nearing the sequel!


	10. Paths

Disclaimer: yadayadayadayadayada

* * *

Paths

"Don't you think it is a bit tight?" Nel asked.

"It does feel a bit tight around the boobline," Clair responded as she wiggled in her wedding dress gingerly.

"Madam Rosiera, please loosen it around the chest area about an inch or so, thank you," Clair said as she unbuttoned the dress and handed the old maid. Madam Rosiera took it graciously and bowed to her.

"I still can't believe you are getting married," Nel said bluntly.

"Why not Nel?"

"We're still young…sort of."

"Nel we're in our mid thirties, and we are in times of peace at least here on Elicoor, it is a good time for me to get married, there is probably no better time."

"I guess, but you're marrying a Glyphian prince, I just can't believe that, is he next in line for the crown?"

"No, I believe Lance is 3rd or 4th his mother is the current King Airyglyph's cousin."

"How did you two meet, I've been away for longer than I'd thought."

"We met during one of our annual conference where legislation between our two kingdoms are discussed. He was with his uncle as a bodyguard, he has recently been knighted actually, he is serving in the Glyphian army."

"Wow, congratulations, I'm really happy for you, am I going to be able to meet him?"

"Of course! You'll probably be able to meet him tomorrow or if not before then you'll definitely see him at the rehearsal dinner."

"Where are you holding the event?"

"The chapel at Aquaria of course, the queen granted me access to it."

"Just as you've always dreamed then? You always did want to get married there. I always thought you were being a silly little girl when you told me about your 'dream' to be married there someday. I didn't think we'd live to see it actually, considering the war with Airyglyph."

"Yes well there were many things we didn't consider possible back then. Who would have thought that you would become a savior of our universe, now a defender of the galaxy, and diplomatic representative on the Galactic Council nonetheless?"

"Clair! You're making me blush."

"It is all rightly earned though! You are seriously an inspiration to the entire kingdom. When are you going to get married Nel? Do you even meet men or is most of your time committed to work?"

"I-Marriage is simply not a priority."

"Surely you have thought about it? Having children? Continuing your legacy? I don't want to see you turn into an old maid and die alone Nel. I know you are a strong willed woman but even so you deserve romantic balance in your life!"

"I just haven't met the right man yet, and imagine what kind of mother I would be? I'd teach the kid how to handle a kunai at birth. I'd give him or her daggers for its birthday instead of proper toys. And…this planet…this universe is a complex and dangerous one. I don't know if I could bear being responsible for bringing life into a world so instable as this one."

"I knew you would say something like that. How is Albel? I'm sure you see a lot of him."

"Too much, the Princess of Darkness is such a drama queen, I can only stand him in marginal dosages. But he is a changed man Clair. He is no longer the Albel the Wicked we used to fear and cower from during missions. He is very complex, he asked me something about laying his mark on the universe, something lasting. And strangely enough I mentioned training subordinates…having children actually. And he seemed to be in deep thought about it."

"Haha you seem to have gotten to know Albel quite well. And that is strange, is Albel showing us a softer side?"

"That would appear so," Nel replied softly and looked out the window, out into the rolling hills of Arias, and the flowing river. "I've missed Elicoor, so beautiful and ironically, peaceful. Its strange, the place I grew up in, surrounded by war and grief, is so much more peaceful than the world I have grown accustomed to recently. Clair the universe is a dangerous and strange place."

"I wouldn't know, I am not as experienced as you are. But I would like to see other worlds some day. How are other people are they strange?"

"I wouldn't say strange, they are just like us, fighting for their own wants and desires. But there are individuals whom mislead and guide them, make them believe they are fighting for a good cause but are really just driving the universe to further damnation. Sometimes I question what I am fighting for, if I am on the right side or not."

"Ah so you are questioning whether your actions for war are justified? Well are they? Have you becomes the very thing you always swore to defend others against?"

"At times I feel like…I've lost my way, just following Leingod. I just assumed that he was right and knew the right direction, that's how it began. We were united to save our universe, as we know it. And that continued until recently, and he had to follow his own path. But do you know what justifies my actions Clair?"

"And what is that Nel?" she asked bemusedly.

"Fighting for people like you, my planet. Because I know that the individuals I am fighting against seek domination of other people, enslavement. And if I can't stop them what if they come to Elicoor? That is why I keep fighting, and more importantly, Fayt had a vision for the universe. A cooperative republic, I believe in that vision."

"Well said, but for now you rest, come, let's get lunch I had the maids prepare a meal."

Nel smiled, "Good, I've missed home cooked meals, our military rations were…well bland." Clair laughed and ushered her out of the rom and down the stairs.

* * *

"You're looking good Albel," an old man said sitting down in a worn chair.

"Woltar…its good to see you."

"What no condescending greeting? Are you Albel the Wicked or has some alien returned in your stead?"

"You know I've always respected you Count Woltar."

"Seriously, son are you alright?"

"I-I'm fine you maggot, can't a man be happy to see an old acquaintance?'

"That's more like it, so how has the galaxy treated you? Any worthy opponents? How are your friends?" Woltar asked as he slurped a cup of tea.

"The fights are good, nothing like anything on Elicoor. We have fierce warriors, but it is a large galaxy Woltar, there are some tough maggots out here. And the other maggots are fine, Leingod and his bitch bailed on us to do some soul searching."

"Hm, it seems you are doing some soul searching yourself, lost your way have you?"

"It is complicated…I no longer thirst for fighting to have my name known, I have realized the vanity and futility of that goal."

"Wow seeing the universe has had a very profound impact on you. I…think it is time that I told you something."

"Hm? Woltar what are you talking about."

"It pertains to your father and the Accession of Flame ceremony which you failed when you were younger."

Albel lowered his hand to the hilt of his katana, shuddering and remembering his failed attempt at the Accession of Flame ceremony. Because of his own foolhardy he had lost his father, his only family, he had never known his mother. He had never cared enough to search for her, between Woltar and his father he had had enough of a support system when he was younger.

"It is about your mother." Albel's chest tightened and he was shocked, never had his mother ever been mentioned to him throughout his entire life.

"You're father never wanted you to know about her background for fear that if word got around, that well you would be discriminated against."

"Woltar just say it damn it."

"Your mother was well a dragon animus."

"You are joking right?" Woltar looked back with a serious face. "That would mean that, I'm part dragon. They were a dying breed, they have gone extinct, and they were all hunted and killed during the early years of the Kingdom."

"And who was tasked with that responsibility, boy?"

"M-my father…so he didn't kill all of them…"

"Yes, I'm afraid you are part dragon animus, your mother was quite the beautiful animus, her human form was quite ravishing, I had the honor of seeing her a couple times, once when they had first met. Then one last time when she was one of the last of her kind before she was brutally hunted down by Vox. Your father never forgave him."

Albel looked out the window and seemed to be wiping a tear from his face, his hand; fiercely gripping the hilt of his katana. "W-what was her name?"

"Verana. She visited you a couple of times in your youth, you were never told that she was your mother. Whenever your father went away she would care for you, saying she was…"

"My father's old friend…I remember her," he muttered, flashes of a beautiful woman with pale skin and raven black hair cared for him once when he was six, his father had gone away on a mission. His eyes felt warm with the tears fighting to break free like caged farm cattle. "Damn Vox, damn, damn everything!" Albel cried furiously.

"How come…I haven't displayed any signs of my dragon animus heritage?"

"You were sealed as a child, the Lord of Dragons Crossell, was involved in the ceremony. He was adamant in the decision. Crossell is actually related to your mother, I believe they are cousins."

"This is insane old man, you are casually telling me about a mother I never knew and now you are telling me I am a blood relative of Crossell?"

Woltar smiled, "The universe out there may be a strange one Albel, but the planet you left behind retains just as many secrets. You may seek Crossell out if you wish, ask him about her, she lived with him for awhile…before she moved on."

Albel nodded, "I may just visit that old maggot. Oh Woltar, before I forget, I came to give you an invitation to Lady Clair's wedding."

"Ah her wedding with Sir Lance?"

"Yes, who would have thought that little maggot I trained would end up marrying Clair. Where is he now?"

"I believe he is with his uncle in Airyglyph, they are finalizing the final details of his wedding," Woltar paused to study Albel's face. "What was troubling you before?"

"Well before you told me my mother was a dragon, I, I've lost my way Woltar. Ever since I've left, I've been following that maggot Leingod's leadership, I went with him because I wanted to get stronger, challenge myself against the rest of the universe and surpass him. But he has only gotten stronger and I've long since abandoned that goal. So my new goal was to ensure the safety of the universe to protect Elicoor from those that seek its ruin or enslavement. But then he abandoned his responsibility, claiming he had to find his path, now here I am attempting to find a reason to keep going."

"You all grew together as a group, but I think Fayt was right in saying that he needed to grow on his own. You all had to take a step back, after growing so much together, you need to be able to reflect on yourself; evaluate yourself. From my perception you have grown a lot Albel so what is next?"

"I have children."

Woltar nearly fell off his chair, "Oh well congratulations?"

"Not what you think, I ran into these kids during a mission, and I saved them from death. But I'm not so sure I should have."

"Why should you not have saved their lives?"

"I saved them but I gave them weapons to defend them. I feel guilty, because what if I just changed the course of their lives by exposing them to violence? Giving them a means to kill, stripping them of their youthful innocence?"

"I see your apprehension, but you are in no way responsible for how they turn out unless you choose to take them under your wing, train them as your own."

"That's what I've been considering Woltar. I know what it is like to be parent-less growing up, it is extremely difficult. And now, knowing what I know…about my mother, I think it is my responsibility to act as a parental figure. They aren't normal children Woltar, they are similar to Leingod."

"Ah they are capable of Runology?"

"You see the difficult position I am in now."

"I do, but I remember a young man who needed guidance and leadership, these kids need you now," Woltar smiled.

Albel smirked in response, "I'll try my best."

"Where are they now?"

"Downstairs, would you like to meet the maggots?" Woltar smiled wryly and picked himself up out of his seat.

* * *

"Representative Yago, you understand that you are calling for more voting power for the council members?" Mirage asked.

The Sylar platform hovered towards the Defense Council's platform. A sharply dressed man with a goatee and jet black hair stepped forward, the irises of his pupils bright red. He spoke with a deep and rich voice, "Yes I think that legislation should not be the only thing voted upon by the Council, I propose that structural changes should be made and decided upon by the entire council, not just the Defense Council. I also propose that a 5th Defense Council member should be added, in fact I think that one should be added every 20 star systems that join, I think that would be more, representative."

"We acknowledge the first part of your proposal valid. However, the defense council is revised every four years and voted upon and requires a certain level of military commitment that no other system is ready to shoulder yet."

"Council Head Koas are you proposing an arms race to militarize?"

"No that is not what I am saying. I am only implying that it requires a large amount of military resources to shoulder the responsibilities of Defense Council members. That is why candidates for election to the Council are considered in the next four years then voted upon. At the Council's Conception naturally we were suited to take up the helm after investing the resources to fight back the Nedian threat. We have already reviewed the proposals by the Renmar and Lennar systems."

"Thank you Council Head Koas, thank you for listening to my proposals, I only wish to create a greater republic in the interest of everyone here and for the entire universe really." He smiled then his platform retreated toward the wall.

Mirage smiled sarcastically back and then looked to Mrs. Leingod who seemed equally concerned. "Onto our next order of business, the issue has stemmed from the Earth system," Mirage said and allowed Mrs. Leingod to step up to the podium.

"Yes well, recently there have been debates on Earth about symbological users, meaning, sentient beings that can manipulate symbological energy, using symbols to well in essence do 'magic'. However, symbology is not some type of sorcery. These beings' bodies are simply adapted so that they may harness energy in different forms around them to perform superhuman feats, usually, the ability to do so also grants those enhanced abilities. The issue is that symbological beings are beginning to appear throughout our universe."

Mirage kept her eyes fixed on Yago Junto, while Mrs. Leingod was talking, examining his body language as he reacted to what he was hearing. However, nothing, she got nothing from him, he was rigid as a statue, astutely listening to what Mrs. Leingod had to say.

"Some of my fellow Earthlings are concerned that laws should be put in place protecting the rights of non-symbological users against abuse by symbological users, I am here to ask the council to vote whether legislation should be put in place limiting symbological users."

One representative spoke out, "Council Head Koas, don't you think that this will create a rift between symbological users and non-symbological users. There are only a currently a few in the universe at the moment."

"Yes, well we are aware of the potential adverse effects, and that is why we are putting it to a vote by the council before we pass legislation on the matter. If we vote to put forth legislation then this will place responsibility on star systems to report on symbological individuals to the main council. And then we will have to carefully write up laws that do not treat these individuals as endangered animals," Mirage responded.

"Keep in mind that these individuals are popping up day by day," Mrs. Leingod said as she stepped down and retained her previous seat. She shook her head and was a bit angry at the whole ordeal. She didn't want to force laws on symbological beings, because the representative was right it will only cause unrest not only on Earth but throughout the entire galaxy.

First of all they weren't even sure why these anomalies were happening, but they were assuming it was being caused by 4D tampering with the Eternal Sphere. If only they had more information on the enemy they were facing, she had never anticipated how far deep this issue ran when they first caught wind of it on Styx. She pitied her son, for the massive amount of responsibility she and Robert had thrown upon him.

Pertaining to the laws, the Earth Senator had forced her to put it to a vote on the council. A majority of Earth's leaders were concerned with how it would affect their safety. _As if they don't realize that they are under the protection of a couple of the most powerful symbological beings in this universe._

Mirage watched her screen as the votes came in, then closed the polling. She tapped her foot as she waited for the program to process the votes and she sighed as the result was flashed across her screen.

"Right then, so we have voted in favor of creating symbological bylaws in light of the recent anomalies. Council will come to a break and will resume tomorrow morning." Mirage shut off her podium screen as chatter soon ensued in the council hall. Mirage looked towards Mrs. Leingod again and they were both thinking about what this spelled for the future.

She glanced around to find Senator Yago Junto, finding him proceeding towards the exit with a toothy grin on his face, and cursed under her breath.

* * *

Earth, 06:00 hours EST

Fayt glanced around him, a GRF cruiser falling towards the planet below him, where was he? He looked around and found himself in space. He dodged as a blast surged towards him. To his left, a flash of bright lights blinded him momentarily then a massive amount of red ships flew out of the portal. He turned to confront them then felt a sharp pain in his back and heard a cruel laugh behind him. He heard a woman call out "FAYT!" then he blacked out.

Fayt awoke in his room, he glanced at the clock, 6:00 AM EST, and he dried the beads of sweat on his forehead with the hem of his shirt then looked around the dark room. Solenn lay quietly on the bed next to him, so he gingerly crawled out of the bed and put his bathrobe on.

He went out to the patio of the apartment, and looked upon the city, slowly coming to the life in the waking hours of the morning. His thoughts immediately went to Maria, last time he had dreams like this, they came to fruition, and she was kidnapped. In this dream…he was the one being hurt, he felt a chill down his spine. _Something is coming, _he thought.

* * *

Maria felt happy as she was floating in the sky, manipulating the air molecules around her body to bob among the clouds. She was amazed at the complexity of the chemical structures; she could feel every electron, proton and neutron as she manipulated the energy of their shells to do her bidding. Suddenly a huge shadow loomed over her head and disrupted her peaceful exile.

A huge dragon was falling from the sky, one of its wings was torn, and his snout was bleeding profusely. Based on the dragon's immense size, she determined that it was Crossell! Maria panicked and dove to help him, but she couldn't move. She watched as fighter ships emerged like predators from the clouds and gunned him down. She attempted to scream out, but no noise issued from her mouth.

Her attention was diverted again to a large star cruiser that was descending on the planet below, as she looked towards the ground, everything was in flames; she could make out the outline of a city, and was horrified. Upon further inspection, she noticed a familiar castle, and citadel, sitting on an island in the middle of a lake…the city was Aquaria.

She wanted to cry as she saw the beautiful city being torn apart, there was a large boom somewhere in the lake, and molten lava spewed from it, releasing copious amounts of steam enveloping Aquaria in a blanket of steam. _A volcano? _ She attempted to see more but the steam obscured her vision and before she could manipulate her environment she awoke.

She swore and dried the tears that had been streaming from her eyes. _6:00 in the morning, great, I'm not gonna be able to get any sleep tonight. Might as well finish packing I guess._ They were headed off to Styx to examine the symbological energy signatures around midday. Her dreams were still on her mind, she had never had them before but she remembered the dreams Fayt had had, and she was afraid if her visions would be fulfilled.

As much as she knew she had to tell Fayt about them, they still weren't on good terms. Fayt was still with Solenn, she with Kai now. She sighed and reflected on the past couple months, ever since the break-up it had been a roller coaster ride since then. Final exams had been rough but she had managed to get top marks in all her classes.

She was reminded about Finals week when Kai and she officially started dating, it actually brought a smile to her face, for a change. It was about 12:00 AM on a Sunday night before her last final. She had barricaded herself in the apartment, studying with her roommate with a cup of espresso cupped in her hands. She was studying for an Advanced Physics class, despite being mentally burned out from a Chemical Engineering Final the day before.

She looked at the class notes tiredly, flicking her fingers across the screen to slide through the lecture presentation. She yawned and grabbed a croissant from the kitchen and stuffed the flaky piece of bread into her mouth. Her communicator buzzed and sent a few vibrations through the table; she sighed and saw that Kai had sent her another script message. Kai had been scripting her all day; she didn't mind it too much but did find it a little annoying.

She thought it was slightly cute but it was distracting at the same time. Another script, "Good luck studying, as a picture of an animated stick figure suffered through exams on the screen." She continued looking over the notes again and did some practice problems grinding out about 2 cm of the lead tip of her pencil. After about an hour she got another script message, "Do you want me to bring you some coffee and scones?"

She considered it for a second she could do with a blueberry scone, she grabbed her communicator and typed _Blueberry please._ She hit send and a pleasant 'woosh' signaled that the message had been sent. Two hours passed and she was wondering where her damn scones were, she was growing impatient and a certain ticking noise began to annoy her; she thought it was from tapping her foot. So she stopped it, but the ticking grew louder and more ferocious. She almost blew up the espresso machine in rage but she whipped around and saw a goofy looking Kai hovering outside with a hover back.

"WHAT THE? How the hell do you expect me to let you in?" she screamed at the glass. Her communicator rang and the script read: _Manipulate the Glass_. She nearly smacked her head in disbelief.

Ever since then they'd been dating. She blushed thinking about the moment, but quickly regained her composure.

She slipped out of her bed and tiptoed gingerly across the floor, conscious of her sleeping roommate. She looked towards the espresso machine and turned it on, allowing it to heat up to the proper temperature. She frowned as she realized that dropping the frothy espresso café would generate a lot of noise, so she manipulated the air around the machine to soundproof it, then turned the machine on.

To her delight the machine noiselessly released the liquid into the mug she had positioned underneath it. After it had dropped the machine switched mechanisms and viciously released white frothy milk, creating a cloudy layer atop the dark espresso. She wobbled the cup around in her hands to swirl the mixture. She debated adding sugar but decided that she would take it as is.

She situated herself in the couch in front of the television and sipped her self-made latte, it scorched her tongue slightly so she manipulated the water molecules in it to spin, to stir and cool the mixture off. Ever since she had been able to fully control her powers she was amazed at the world around her. The minute complexities amazed her. She felt that she could just spend an entire day examining the composition of things in her surroundings and see how she could manipulate them.

She took another slurp of her café and the temperature was to her liking. She sit back and peered out the window and watched the sunrise signaling the beginning of another day on Earth in the Eternal Sphere.

* * *

"Fayt what are you wearing?" Solenn asked her boyfriend, referring to the silver, one-piece jumpsuit.

"Wh-What? It's only the leading piece of technology in combat armor."

"You look like the tinman," she teased him.

"Well damn! I didn't know I had to look good while fighting enemy soldiers," he responded furiously, but she continued to give him a sour look, "I'll go change…" Solenn smiled in response and hummed as Fayt returned to his room.

Fayt grabbed a standard issue ablative plate from his closet, then saw a couple other armors busted up. Ever since the battle with Luther in Firewall, Fayt had been keeping recollections of his big battles, he felt that he had an obligation to honor them, especially since they defined history itself. He blew some dust off the RX armor, a heavy duty model, he had used on the Earth raid and the battle against Indalecio.

He sighed and grabbed his suitcase_, Off to investigate yet another threat to our universe. Time to be the hero again._ He passed the mirror above his dresser and took a quick glance in it. He smiled and messed up his hair.

"Are we taking the Ferrari or the Lamborghini to the base?"

"The Lamborghini, Maria never returned the Ferrari," Fayt joked, but Solenn gave him a serious look.

"That's not funny babe, are you still hung up on that, I thought we were happy together," she asked, grabbing his hand.

"U-uh, Baby! That's not what I meant, I was really just kidding, ugh. I'm sorry, you're right it wasn't funny."

"I-It's ok. I get it, you guys had something pretty special."

Fayt grabbed her hands and looked at her passionately into her eyes, "Look, Solenn, I'm with you right now, and that's all that matters. The past doesn't matter, ok? Please don't let this get in the way of you enjoying the trip; after all it really should be a good educational experience, for all of us."

"Ok, I'm sorry I was being dramatic, besides that's what I wanted to hear," she smirked.

"God you are terrible sometimes," he sighed and grabbed her waist and led her to the elevator. As they exited the elevator, Solenn took a bad step and her heel got wedged in the gap between the elevator and the floor and she fell forwards.

Fayt quickly grabbed her but couldn't grab her sunglasses which crashed to the floor and broke into as many pieces as credits it had cost her. "Oh no!" Fayt cried. "I'm sorry."

"No, I-It's alright," she responded blushing, his face inches from hers.

"Haha, I still got it, relationship is still fresh as ever," he replied arrogantly.

She shot her tongue at him, "Yeah-Yeah whatever, your head couldn't get any bigger anyways." Fayt placed her back on her toes and they waltzed out of the lobby hand in hand. Fayt powered up the sleek sports car and glanced at Solenn and grimaced at her as the car catapulted forward.

"Incoming telephone call," said the cool voice of the car's nav system. Fayt looked onto the windshield and saw a picture of her mother and the contact name "Earth Alliance Headquarters".

"Connect," Fayt said calmly as he pulled the car into a moderate right turn.

"Fayt where are you. Hurry up, your grandfather is here."

"Grandpa Everett? Really! All the way from Japan?"

"Yes, now come quick, you know how much I can't tolerate your father's old man."

"Ok, ok!" he responded quickly. He looked at Solenn, "looks like you are going to meet my grandfather today."

"I'm a lucky girl?" she asked.

"Well. He is an interesting character to say the least."

* * *

"No, no its all wrong why would you put the thrusters there?" Mrs. Leingod frowned as she looked at the 3D wire projection of a starship, turning her gaze to an old man with a large grey beard and hair.

"Woman, am I not the engineer?"

"I'm just saying that I have had input on the development of starships too-,"

"I've been in the business longer than you have and know more about ship construction than either you or Robert could have fathomed!"

"Well at any rate we will have to reposition the thrusters to account for the symbological warp drive and weapon core," she said technically as she passed her hand through the wire model making adjustments.

The old man's eyes lit up as he saw the modifications come to life, "Ah I see, of course, of course. This will help a lot and hopefully bring Leingod Construction into the new Star Date."

"This is pioneering technology Everett. Not even the Expellians have anything like this on their hands yet. This could put you in the Galactic Republic as the new contractor if things go according to plan."

"Yes, gone will be the days of civilian transport or the sale and assembly of imported ships."

"Right, I'm still at a loss of how these will be powered."

"Leave that to me."

"I'd still like to have an overview, I will need it for my own considerations."

"Well basically we have two options, we can use creation cores to power these ships all the same. But they have to be programmed with symbological runes. Those ships won't be true Symbologically powered ships. I have discovered an element on the planet of Atherania, a crystal which sustains symbological power. It isn't perfect but it does the job well enough. These must be activated by symbological users however."

"Hm that will limit production, but hopefully the updated designs will be enough to bring us into this new age of ship building."

"Agreed, Like I said leave it to me, your grandson is key to this. Actually I will also send you the new specs of a battleship I want designed. Project name _Delacour._"

"New battleship…what is the _Avenger _not holding up?"

"Not really but just as you said, we need to catapult ourselves into the new age of ship building."

Everett raised an eyebrow, "I know that look. You gave me that look when you told me you were experimenting on Fayt. What's coming this time?"

"I-I honestly don't know. But we have to be ready; there are just too many things in motion that are pointing to bad signs."

"Such as…?"

"Various reports from GRF fleet commanders. The reports I got from Fayt alone within the past year and reports from his friends have shaken me. The turning of Alistair, which was a mess I had to deal with on the Security Council."

"Madam Leingod, Fayt has arrived with Solenn, and Mrs. Traydor is in the waiting room as we speak," said Rachel over the PA.

"Thank you Rachel. Right then, we'll save our chat for later and welcome our guests."

"So your past has returned to haunt you then?"

"Hm?"

"The Traydor girl."

"I have no idea what you are talking about," she responded blankly as she ushered Maria and Kai into the room. "Maria, Kai! You two look good I'd like to introduce you two to Everett Leingod, Fayt's grandfather, on Robert's side."

"Mr. Leingod, nice to meet you," Maria said as she extended a cordial hand. Grandpa Leingod shook it, studying her.

"So you were the girl my grandson was supposed to marry," he said with a pause as their eyes locked. Maria's eyes were met with a rigid, and wrinkled face, "He missed out on you," he said his face shifted into a smile.

"Kai Li sir, nice to meet you! I am a big fan of the T-16 Space Brawler you designed a while back. T-They don't make em like they used to!"

"Ohoho, a fan I see! This is a quality young man you see I was going for a new look that hotshot pilots would love to get into. Coupled with an impressive array of firepower and the long body I was designing it for those good ol' fashioned dog fights. Now space battles are determined primarily by whoever has the largest battleship. But everything is changing yet again because of those damn Executioners. I say."

"Ah I feel you sir! The T-16 was still quite revolutionary in its time though! It just faced stiff competition from the Aldian HERSE-567."

"Are you two done with your nerd talk?" Mrs. Leingod jeered. They looked at her incredously, then said, "You'll be in for a treat then Kai. My father in law has decided to get back into the ship designing game. He is going for larger scale battlecraft now. In fact we will be test-running his prototype craft on our trip to Styx."

"Really, that is a treat! Are you looking to compete directly with the Expellians Mr. Leingod?"

"Well I will try-, Fayt!" he exclaimed and embraced his grandson who had walked through the doorway.

"G-Grandpa Everett, h-how are you," he wheezed.

"Still as skinny as ever I see. And hoho who is this lovely lass, surely she can't be your girlfriend, way too pretty for you."

"WHY does everyone keep saying that? Whyyy?" Fayt exclaimed as he suddenly noticed Maria and Kai out of the corner of his eye. _Ohh awkward…_

"My name is Solenn, pleased to meet you Mr. Leingod. And no I'm not his girlfriend, he's just my chauffer, I like to keep him around as a bodyguard despite his frailties," she jeered.

"Beauty and a bit of wit, deadly combination, I'd watch out for her son…" he joked.

"So grandpa, returning to the shipbuilding business? I wish you my best, the Expellians make some Class A battleships, saved our lives a couple times."

"Is that a challenge? Watch out kid this old horse still has a little left in him. I wouldn't mind taking a Galactic Republic Commander as a consultant though, albeit inactive."

Fayt winked at him and then proceeded to greet Kai and Maria. "Guys, holding up well then?" he asked a bit awkwardly.

"Well enough, thanks pal," Kai replied sincerely. Maria simply shrugged.

"So mom want to brief us on the purpose of our mission?"

"Right then, we will be studying symbological energy being emitted by the Planet Styx. And our fears seem to have been confirmed. Our 4D advarsaries are trying to mobilize it as some sort of weapon. We've noticed it has been experiencing 'planetary drift' acting against planetary gravity forces."

"Where is its projected trajectory?" Maria asked, analyzing the map, manipulating the holograms herself to get a better idea of the situation.

"Earth."

"Well what are we waiting for then, let's go!" Fayt exclaimed with a grin on his face.

"The ship awaits," Mrs. Leingod responded. Everyone made towards the door, except for Maria who hung back and wanted to talk to her. She told Kai that she would catch up with him, Kai nodded and didn't waste his time to berate Mr. Leingod about a couple more ship designs. Mrs. Leingod was stuffing a few more articles into her suitcase as Maria tapped her on her shoulder.

"Madam."

"Please Maria just call me Ryoko, or Mrs. Leingod."

"Right, uh Mrs. Leingod. I-I had a vision. Similar to the vision that Fayt had before I was kidnapped." She fastened one of the buckles on her suitcase then turned around.

"I'm listening," she responded sternly.

"I-I saw Elicoor under attack. Then I also saw Crossell dying, the City of Aquaria in flames. But, it couldn't have happened already could it? Were we unable to protect our friends?"

"N-No, we would have found out, the Republic space station in Elicoor II's orbit is fine, and I haven't heard any reports. But this is serious; it is strange that you two have these vivid and real premonitions. So we must act upon this seriously. I will tell Kian to reposition the 7th Fleet outside Elicoor. I'll send Cliff as well."

"Th-Thank you…do you think it could have been just a dream as well?"

"I think we've experienced enough to realize that things aren't up to coincidence anymore Maria, but come on let's go we have a job to do as well." She forced a weak smile and nodded.

* * *

End


	11. Retribution

Disclaimer: yadayadayadayadayada

* * *

"How is everything then Kian?" Nel asked.

"The fighting is getting uglier. Three more symbological users have been identified, and with the new laws that have gone into place. They feel like they are being hunted. Like rats. It seems like he has corrupted another two. How is your vacation?"

"Fine you weak-bellied fool." Albel spat as he entered the bridge. "When does that maggot Cliff arrive?"

"Soon," Kian replied tersely.

"What brings you guys to the Elicoor system's recon outpost?"

"Refueling, what have you guys been up to?"

"Well you actually interrupted our wedding preparations."

Kian dropped his data tablet, "Y-Your wedding preparations?"

"No you blundering maggot her friend's."

"Y-Yes my friend Clair's…not _ours_. I will _die_ before I marry Albel."

"Careful that, can be arranged Nellie," Albel sneered.

"Alright well just wanted to say howdy, check up on you two."

"Cool, well we're leaving," Nel said almost like a whisper.

"She has to try and fit into her bridesmaid dress."

"I'll fit perfectly fine thank you very much!"

* * *

"This is an impressive ship Gramps," Fayt said in awe.

"Yes well this is the prototype model for the upcoming lines, this is a Class I battlecruiser, I've named her _Exige_. Dual CE Core Reactor. 16 Creation Cannons. 14 Hyperion Cannons. 100 Mini cannons. This ship is armed to the tooth. The ship programming is so cutting edge that it seamlessly balances and optimizes firepower, shielding, or engine output by itself."

"Wait so that isn't handled by the crew anymore?" Fayt asked.

"That's something exactly a fleet commander would ask m'boy. But no, however there is a manual mode for those old warhorses, such as myself."

"Interesting, almost like a 'smart' ship."

"That's what we were aiming for. I really had to pull out all the stops for this one last venture to get back into the ship construction market. I scoured the galaxy for the best programmers and design team. I think I got it right this time. Besides we have to put those old shipyards we own to some use."

"Ha, right those shipyards, you and dad used to talk about them all the time."

"Well of course son! It's a part of Leingod history! Your great great grandfather Linus Leingod won it off some traveling Morphus almost 200 years ago. Ever since we've been reduced to sub contracts assembling other developers' starships. But no longer! Everett Leingod is back in the race and is gonna bring Leingod Corporation back into the swing of things."

"You old fool," Mrs. Leingod sighed. "Sophia's cruiser has arrived we're ready for warp."

"Sophia is here too?" Fayt gasped.

"Yup, I needed all of you on deck for this. After all Styx is where it all began."

Fayt nodded. _Yup that's where this whole mess began…_he thought recalling his first visit to Styx…the demise of the Aquaelie, which felt like eons ago. He exhaled then asked for his grandfather's leave, Mr. Leingod had to prep the ship for launch. While Fayt wanted to meet up with Sophia.

As he was headed down the hall, he saw Kai walking towards him at the opposite end of the hall. Fayt looked away for a second then returned his gaze to greet his friend. "Kai."

"Fayt," he responded tersely.

"K-Kai wait up."

"Hm? What's up Fayt?"

"I, I just wanted to say no hard feelings between us. I'm happy that you and Maria found each other, so to speak."

"T-Thanks Fayt that means a lot to me. You know-," He paused, then seemed to change his mind, "I, I'm sorry too. I've always liked Maria, even when you were with her. I know it was wrong for me to go after her but. I just couldn't help it you know?"

"I-" Fayt also bit his tongue for a second, he wasn't sure how he wanted to respond. He was a bit angry that one of his closest friends was dating his ex-girlfriend…whom he still deeply cared for. But was also happy with Solenn. "I, it's nothing man, don't think about it. What happened happened, and what will be will be. There's no point in apologizing for anything. I did what I did, she did what she did, we all did what seemed like the best option for ourselves. I'm not saying that I'm not sorry for anything I did. But we can't take back our actions, we can only move forwards," he ended with an unsure smile.

"Yeah, you're right. Hey you're still my bro man, I still can't believe you hooked up with your ex from freshman year man. She was a control-freak!"

"Dude I know! I had no idea what I was thinking." They laughed together, which neither of them had been able to enjoy for a while, "I've missed this man."

"Haha are you coming onto me man? Do I have to tell Solenn?"

"Only if I get to break the news to Maria," he chuckled awkwardly then realized he had gone too far.

Kai, however, didn't seem to be perturbed by it, "Yeah, too soon man, I'll catch up with you, I got some more questions for your gramps."

"Sure thing, I need to catch up with Sophia too so…" he waved goodbye at him and Fayt walked away as if a heavy load had been lifted from his chest. All that was left was Maria...he rounded the corner then walked head first into something solid…an intruder?

"FAYT WHAT THE HELL! CAN YOU WATCH WHERE YOU ARE GOING?" a brown haired girl cried. She was left without a response to see Fayt Leingod, defender of the universe, knocked out cold on the floor.

A little after Fayt recovers….

"What do you mean you and Maria aren't together anymore?" she asked sternly.

"Well I kind of fucked up…and I'm seing someone else."

"WHO THIS SLUT?" Sophia cried. Fayt sighed and explained the story.

"Since when were you a pathetic drunkard douchebag?"

"Geez that hurts…but I deserve it. The thing is I'm actually happy now, so is Maria."

"Do you still love her?"

"Of course."

"Then how can you stand to see her with someone else?"

"Well, it is hard. Its very difficult, but she closed herself off from me. And that hurt me, but it hurt me the most knowing that I was the one who had caused her so much pain. Especially since she is very careful about whom she places her trust in. I honestly don't know if she will ever be able to trust me ever again…"

"Hmm, it sounds like you two definitely needed a break. I know you two have been through a lot together, more than most couples ever go through. I'm sure it will work out in the end, and even if it doesn't, what will happen, will happen."

"Yeah that's what I keep telling myself. So how goes being an Earth ambassador."

"Good, but it's getting dangerous out there Fayt. People are starting to fear symbological users. No one is sure who they can trust. Alistair has been active too, and that is just magnifying the scope of the symbological terror. Beings have been hung, for being suspected symbological users even though they aren't. It's like they are going on witch hunts. I've received a couple threats, two of my security guards lost their lives protecting me."

"Wow, I'm sorry and I thought I had it hard with school. Hah, well that's actually not too far off, about the witch thing. Professor Hall said that evidence shows that 'witches' that were burned in the medieval times were actually symbologists. I gotta take down Alistair, it's become personal. Giving us symbological users a bad rep! We're good hearted people really, except for when they accuse people of being 'douchebags'" he sneered at her.

"Ok you can't even condone your actions Fayt."

"I think we've caught up enough," Fayt said, annoyed, "I think its time to go see my mother, have you been briefed on our 'project' at all?"

"Yes, your mother was in a teleconference with me while my ship was in warp."

"Isn't that impossible?"

"Nope I opened up a line using a symbological channel. You know, I'm not useless, I'm still a superpowered being yah know."

"I never said you were! Always putting words in my mouth, classic Sophia." They soon reached the command bridge and entered past the hydraulic powered doors.

Maria was in the command chair chatting with Solenn, Kai was studying a schematic of the _Exige _with his grandfather, while Mrs. Leingod seemed to be in a teleconference call with someone. The rest of the crew was hard at work.

"Commander Traydor, exiting warp in 5 seconds."

"Roger," Maria tersely responded. Fayt studied her. _The armor is back on again. She's always so in her element in a captain's chair. _

Warp space slowly faded into standard space and the _Exige_ glided towards the sandy colored planet: Styx. Just seeing it sent a chill down Fayt's spine. It seems like it was just yesterday when he had laid his eyes upon the dreadful planet aboard the _Aquaelie._

"Do the long-range sensors detect anything?" Maria asked sharply.

"Nothing m'am," the pilot responded. Maria nodded but still seemed alert.

"I guess you don't want anything to creep up on us huh?" Fayt asked apprehensively. Maria casually turned he head and silently nodded.

"We've lost enough soldiers because of this damn 4D issue."

Fayt could only nod in agreeement and was happy at the fact that she had acknowledged his existence.

"Nothing on the long-range scanners m'am. We're all alone."

"Hold on let me tap into the long range scanners and see if I can detect any warp holes or other interspatial portals," said Sophia as she walked over to the navigator.

"Wow, I didn't know you could do that Sophia," Maria responded.

"Yeah well, it saved my life as well as my crew's a while back by Tetragenesis. Which is a story for another time," she smiled as she saw Fayt's mouth begin to open inquisitively. She closed her eyes and her hands glowed green as she expanded her consciousness to scan for portholes.

Fayt cringed slightly as he felt her consciousness attempt to crowd into his, but his mind immediately threw up barriers out of instinct. He soon lowered them, at the same time he recognized the touch of her mind so his would be able to recognize it in the future. Sophia shook her head and Maria exhaled, "Mr. Leingod, we'll leave control of the fleet in your hands."

"Right, I don't wanna set foot on that god forsaken planet anyways."

"Helmsman, tell the hangar bay to prep the _Dragoon_ for launch," Mrs. Leingold commanded.

* * *

"Run the form again," Albel said calmly as three children in front of him executed some sort of martial arts pattern. "Stop," he said as he motioned towards the girl's arms, "keep them tighter. Continue."

"Good job Lisa, despite your arms you are improving on your form."

"Thank you Albel sensei."

"Chan, pay attention" he barked at the shorter and relatively porky boy whom had fallen asleep.

"S-sorry master!"

"Thunder," I think we'll start sword work soon, he said to the tallest, the boy whom he had first talked to on Rylen. The boy's actual name was Forst, but he preferred thunder for some reason, unknown to Albel. "You all are making good progress. How are you maggots enjoying the city of Airyglyph?"

"It's kind of cold to be honest master," Lisa complained as she blew air from her mouth and showed Albel her breath.

"Well you get used to it after awhile, really."

"Master, when are we leaving for Aquaria?" Thunder asked politely.

"In a couple hours, I just need to say goodbye to the king before we leave."

They nodded and proceeded to the rooms they had taken up inside the castle to gather their posessions. As they exited Albel heard the children greet a man on the way inside the room. Judging from the heavier set of footsteps it was an adult.

"I see you are taking well to your mentorship role Nox."

"Lance," he replied tersely to the tall man with short brown hair wearing some a light blood red chest piece.

"Geez Albel, lighten up. Remember the days back in the academy?"

"Heh, you mean how I always beat your sorry ass during fencing?"

"Darnit Albel, you know you are the best swordsman the academy ever produced! Why don't you try riding a horse."

"Why need a horse if you can topple it in one fell swing."

"Always the sadist."

"Peace maggot. I hear you are tipped to succeed Woltar as Captain of the Lightning Brigade."

"Yeah well, hard work usually doesn't go unnoticed. They miss you here Al, Terrance is the Captain of the Black Brigade now."

"What? That fool can't tell the difference between a claymore and a rapier!"

"I know man! That's what I'm saying," Lance grinned then leaned against the doorway.

Albel sighed then turned to face Lance, "You ready to become a married fool tomorrow?"

"Ready as I'll ever be. Marrying the woman of my dreams!" he cried confidently.

"You always were a naïve fool."

"How about you Al, anyone interesting?"

"…"

"Right. I guess we're done here then. We leave in an hour. I just wanted to remind you that my uncle wishes to see you before we leave." Albel nodded, and Lance departed.

Albel prepared his own belongings and packed them into a leather bag. He blew out the candles in his room and locked it. He proceeded down the stone corridor towards the King's chambers. The tall armor plated guards saluted Albel and allowed him to approach the King.

"Your majesty," Albel said in a low and cool hiss.

"Albel, I heard Woltar told you about your mother." Albel didn't respond and fixed his gaze upon one of the torches lighting the room.

"I'm sorry we didn't tell you sooner. I've watched you grow up and almost consider you like a son. I owe much to your father. I just want to make sure that when my time comes, that you will help whomever takes the throne. Promise me you will protect the Glyphian people."

"My lord...I-I thank you for your concerns, and I have appreciated the kindness you have shown me over the years. But why do you speak with such a dark tone, are you ill?"

"Nay, peace Albel. It is merely an old man speaking his mind. I was flying upon my dragon a couple days ago, and we visited our usual spot in the Bequerel Mountains. A beautiful spot, a very high point where a very rare flower grows, I must show you some time. But anyway, I took him there and we sat and inspected the mountainside as we have done for the past couple decades. But we noticed that the flowers weren't growing there anymore. The first time in about 30 years that I haven't seen it, it has always been there since my days as a lad."

"I see."

"I feel something coming Albel, something bad for not just Glyphians, ay, Elicoorians as well. It may just be an old man being paranoid."

"You have my word my lord. I will always look after the well-being of my people. Of that I swear it."

"Excellent. Well you best be off! Send my best to the Queen of Aquaria, I regret I will not be able to make Lady Clair and Lance's wedding. However the kingdom must be attended to! And it is the winter season, it's a tough period for our people. Before you leave , I must ask, have you been to see Lord Crossell?"

"Not yet sir. I plan to visit him after the wedding." The king nodded and to Albel's surprise got off his throne and gave Albel a strong hug.

"Travel safely, Albel Nox, one of Airyglyph's finest sons."

Albel was speechless and all he could do was bow, he almost fell over doing so. He caught himself and the King grinned at him. Albel was still a bit stunned, yet his feet carried him through the castle out into the cold and snow-enveloped city of Airyglyph. He paused to examine the plumes of smoke emanating from the chimneys of the rows of stone houses. They stretched as far as the eye could see all the way to the city walls. He paced down the main road, looking at the citizens bundled in thick and heavy clothing. _Promise me you well protect the Glyphian people_, the king's words continued to ring in his ears until they were sounded out by the loud calls of his own name.

"Master Albel, are you ready?" Lisa asked, as the two other children looked at him. Albel nodded and the three children got into the caravan. Albel stepped with one foot onto the wooden platform then looked upon Airyglyph one last time. _Airyglyph will always stand tall, as long as I am alive._ He grinned to himself and hoisted himself into the carriage. He sat next to Thunder who had his eyes closed and arms crossed.

"Did the old man have anything interesting to say to you?" Lance asked curiously.

"No. Just the usual," he smirked. Lance studied Albel for a while but seemed satisfied with the response.

* * *

"No no we want the purple ones. Yes I'm sure Azalea! The bride is very busy at the moment and will not appreciate being disturbed!" Nel cried as she slammed the door on the short florist.

"Nel, I am freaking out, what if she doesn't get the flowers right?!" Claire cried from the bathroom.

"Then ill turn her into a toad. Its will be fine, just calm down ok, oh my gosh what is wrong with your hair?!" Nel exclaimed. Clair's hair was a large poofy and brown mess for some reason.

"I t-tried to straighten it with Runology…but it didn't work quite well."

"Oh dear…" Nel sighed and ran her hands over Clair's hair using symbology to fix it.

"Should it be up or down? NELLLLLLLL!"

"GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER WOMAN. Obviously it's ok if it is down since it isn't an evening event."

"Oh right…Why am I so stressed?"

"Every woman gets stressed before her wedding day Clair."

"Hah! I bet you wouldn't, you'd be a picture of poise."

"Are you kidding? I'd probably kill someone because I'd think they were spying on me or something. I'd be way to paranoid to be calm."

"Everything will be alright right?"

"Are you having doubts about marrying Lance, don't you love him?"

"Yes! More than all the stars of Apris combined. I'm just concerned how much life changes after marriage, children…"

"My dear Clair, don't you think you are getting ahead of yourself? Why not just trust in you love for Lance, shouldn't that be enough for now? Why worry about things that aren't in your immediate control."

"I..it was a foolish thought, I just need rest, leave me for now?"

Nel nodded, "Don't burn yourself out," she said and patted her on her shoulder. "Farica," she said as one of the house handmaidens passed by her, "Please make sure your Lady Clair isn't disturbed nor leaves the castle until I return."

"Yes m'lady." Nel thanked her and exited the room and proceeded towards the chapel to ensure the wedding preparations were going as planned. Nel applied herself where she could, fastening banners and bows.

As she was working she soon heard a soft lament, a familiar tune, one she remembered from her childhood. It was a chilling tune, she saw others hear around her here it as well and they dropped what they were doing, to honor the cold song. It was the Queen's Requiem, and it signified that the queen was despairing. For Nel, it elicited memories of her childhood; she remembered that her mother would sing it to her before she would sleep. Her mother, Elayne, had died when Nel was very young, leaving her to her father.

Nel snapped out of her trance, and left a couple instructions with one of the maids then went off towards the Queen's Audience Chamber. The guards let her through and she cleared her throat to signal her intent to approach the throne. Magistrate Laselle nodded, as she neared the throne she spotted the queen playing on her harp.

"My lady, permission to approach the throne." The Queen lifted her head nodded softly.

"Sit next to me, Daughter of Aquaria." Nel seemed a bit shocked, the queen had never requested her to sit next to her before.

"Yes m'lady," Magistrate Laselle signaled one of the servants to place a chair for Nel to sit upon. Nel gracefully accepted the seat and planted herself upon it and then took the queen's hand.

"My lady why are you in such a gloomy state?"

"Nel, Daughter of Nevelle Zelpher, do you remember your mother Elayne?"

"Very faintly, yes. As you know I was quite young when she passed away. I soon looked upon you as a motherly figure my lady, as does the entire kingdom of course. You are the holy mother."

"Holy mother? Yes, that is my title. I suppose, mother as well…" she trailed off and seemed to rummage through her dress for some lost article.

"My lady I ask you again? You were playing the lament of the Holy Mother, may I help alleviate the pain."

The queen did not seem to be listening until she finally pulled out a loose piece of parchment, an aged and yellow piece of paper. "Th-This is a letter from your father, addressed to me about 40 years ago…I found it the other day. It was l-lost among my things. It says…well I have not the heart to tell you." She handed the piece of paper and resumed the queen's lament.

Nel read over the piece of paper, the writing was faded but she immediately recognized her father's distinctive loopy handwriting. _Dear Romey…_ Nel smiled as she read the greeting and then proceeded to read the body, joyed at reading her father's writing. It was like conversing with an old friend again. _Elayne has passed today…and it is impossible to keep this charade and I must be honest with her as well as you. I do not know if you recall the spring retreat a couple years ago when you we were attacked by wild creatures and you and I were forced to take refuge in a cave…_Nel read on and was shocked with what she continued to read.

"Y-You and my father had relations?!"

"It was before he and Elayne were together! And I was none the wiser that you were my daughter!"

Time seemed to stop, "What did you say?"

"Y-your father and I were lovers at one point. But he was my guardian, and I a queen we could not be together. I was pregnant once and bore a child, but was told the child didn't make it. I suppose Nevelle was trying to protect me. I loved your father so much, not a day passes where I do not think about him…"

"Y-you are my mother?" Nel asked, still trying to make herself believe it.

The queen slowly rose her head and met Nel's eyes, "F-Forgive me daughter, I would not have sent you away as much or put you through as much danger had I known!" she cried and flung her arms around Nel. "Y-You should have grown up as a princess in this court. Not know the suffering that you have been forced to endure…the torture and pain."

Nel was still speechless and felt her mother's tears kiss the cloth on her shoulder. "My lady….mother, please stop you're crying," Nel placed her hands upon her mother's shoulders and looked into her eyes. "I have become all the stronger because of the life I have lived. And you have always been there for me just as a mother should be. I have become a shield maiden of Aquaria, I h-have protected our people mother, and I would not have wanted any other duty," she finished and soon succumbed to tears as well.

"I am still ashamed, and am not worthy of being called your mother, let alone Holy Mother of this country, how can I fulfill that duty when I failed you as a mother; my own flesh and blood."

"What is done is done mother," Nel responded and matched her mother's embrace. The Queen pulled back for a second then smiled.

"Good thing you have your father's strength," she whispered and pushed back Nel's hair.

"And your beauty mother."

"Yes, well beauty is fleeting. Strength is everlasting and enduring in your heart, and in your mind, while your physical strength may fail you with passing winters. Your inner fortitutde endures through the spring. Look at us, mother and daughter crying, when we should be rejoicing! The kingdom must know that the Holy Mother has a Holy Daughter as well," she smiled.

"Laselle, cancel the queen's meetings today. Me and my mother have a lot of catching up to do."

* * *

"Mom let me see those readings," Fayt called as he withdrew the cloak he was wearing to prevent sand from buffeting his face. Mrs. Leingod passed some sort of scanner she had been using to assess the Time Gate's activity.

"Do you feel the energy being emitted?" Mrs. Leingod asked?

"Yes, it is very unstable, I am afraid of getting too close in case our different energies collide and cause some sort of catastrophic reaction."

"Let me try patching it up," Maria suggested. Mrs. Leingod nodded as Maria felt around for the source of the instability. She pictured the energy like a sphere where there was a hole in it in which the symbological energy was spewing from. "Got it," she said as her eyes flashed ethereal blue.

They soon saw yellow energy form in the shape of a sphere in the middle of the Time Gate. There was a small circular hole in the top of the sphere which slowly filled in. She released the energy and the sphere dissipated into the air, with the sand being tossed about by the wind.

"How are the readings?" Mrs. Leingod asked.

"Gone, fluctuations have stopped," Fayt responded, looking at the scanner.

"So are we done here?" Kai asked. Fayt shrugged but then looked up as two shiny purple blips appeared above the time gate. They soon began to expand in radius, inside these newly formed circles: black space and stars.

"A porthole is opening," Sophia exclaimed.

"SHUT IT DOWN!" Mrs, Leingod exclaimed. Sophia nodded and brandished her staff and a lasso of green energy extended from it she whipped it around the gate, bright green circles of energy began to surround it. But the circles continued to extend until they finally intersected with one another. "Hold it Sophia, hold it!"

"I'm t-trying," until she gasped and her staff burst into flames and the energy she was using to contain the portal focused into a ball of energy.

"Shit," Fayt said as his eyes widened and he grabbed his mom and Solenn in an embrace, protecting them from what would come. Maria had similar thoughts and shielded Kai and Sophia, as the sphere burst sending out ripples of energy and a sonic 'boom'. Sand and rocks were thrown up obscuring their vision. Republic soldiers were sent flying in the air until all was silent.

Fayt tried to see through the sand but all he heard was a hollow laugh. Then he heard a scrambling in his ear, realizing it was coming through his comm. line with the Exige. "Fayt, Fayt, we are under attack by these black ships! Are those Executioners? My god…" he heard as the line was soon cut. Fayt's mind was racing and he feared they had walked into a trap, his fears were confirmed as the laughing grew louder and he soon recognized the wicked laugh. It wasn't the first time he had heard it on this planet.

"Alistair! SHOW yourself damn it!"

"As you wish," his voice said, from extremely close. Fayt realized that Alistair was standing right above him, Fayt quickly threw Solenn and his mother to safety and immediately felt a hard boot in his side that sent him sprawling six feet away. He regained his balance in the air then landed on his face and skid in the dirt a couple feet.

He brushed a lock of his hair and brandished _Destroyer _which shone bright blue and looked left to right trying to anticipate where Alistair would strike next. The sand continued to buffet him and restrict his vision to about three feet in front of him. He heard footsteps to his left then viciously swung his blade at whomever was occupying that space.

However, it had a strong ward, Fayt quickly adjusted his footing to face Alistair and react to the next attack only to meet Maria's cold face.

"Oh it's you."

"Yeah it's me! What the hell did you think you were doing swinging that at me?" Maria exclaimed.

"Sorry!"

"Didn't you recognize my aura?!"

"No I actually didn't…it felt different."

Maria looked at him incredulously but dropped it as the sand storm stopped, while they heard a loud shriek. They turned around to see Alistair grabbing Sophia by the Time Gate, he had an arm around her neck and a sword to her back. Fayt examined the area and was relieved to see his mother, Solenn and Kai, a good 20 feet away from the Time Gate behind a rock. Alistair was flanked by two tall guards wearing black armor.

Maria looked again however, and it wasn't armor, the two figures were humanoid but their outer skin was like armor plated scales and their heads were covered by black helmets. They both carried two guns that looked like they could interchangeably become swords.

"Those are new," Fayt said cockily.

"Elite 4D Black ops soldiers," Alistair responded.

"That sounds really cheesy, not gonna lie."

Alistair grimaced in response. Without warning he dug his sword an inch into Sophia's back. She shrieked in pain. "Another inch deeper I paralyze her."

"Alistair let her go damn it!" Fayt cried.

"Ah so the famous Fayt Leingod is mortal after all."

"Open the portal woman."

"Wh-What portal," Sophia gasped through immensely labored gasps.

"Just open the symbological portal and I will direct it. It will be a _surprise_," he sneered. "Tell her to do it or I paralyze her and destroy your fleet in orbit."

"We fell for this trap Alistair, don't expect us to cooperate willingly you traitor," Maria spat.

"Maria we can't let him paralyze Sophia. Just let her open the portal…"

"Fayt you have no idea where he intends to send this planet…" she hissed then she remembered her dream. "You bastard!"

Alistair pretended to be offended and pointed at himself, "Are you referring to me? Or your good for nothing ex-fiance?"

Fayt growled at him then Maria continued, "You plan to send us to Elicoor, to annihilate the planet."

"Ah they were right, the power of foresight does not escape the pair of you…"

Fayt softened his resolve then looked at Maria, "Wait you dreamt about Elicoor's destruction?" he gulped. "I had a dream like the one I saw when you were kidnapped. I dreamt about red ships beleaguering a planet…that must have been Elicoor…"

"DO IT NOW OR I PARALYZE HER AND STRIP HER OF HER SYMBOLOGICAL POWERS!" Alistair bellowed as he removed a syringe filled with a red liquid.

_We have to warn Nel and Albel somehow_ Fayt said to Maria telepathically.

Maria agreed telepathically without looking at him. _Try and tell your mother to get a message to Cliff in orbit, be careful not to alert Alistair._

Fayt bit his tongue and tried to figure out a way to tell his mom. He tried expanding his consciousness but immediately recoiled it before it made contact with Alistait's. Instead he had an idea, he expanded his consciousness outside of Alistair's range towards one of the soldiers that had been beat away by the sonic boom. He broke down the man's mental defenses and possessed him.

_Woah this is weird_, Fayt thought as he was now looking out of the eyes of a soldier and through a visor withdrawn over the soldier's eyes. He ran over to the spot Mrs. Leingod and company were taking cover.

"Private, what do you want?" Mrs. Leingod growled as she kept her eyes glued to the scene in front of her."

"M-mom, its me," Fayt said in a voice that wasn't his own.

She turned around slowly with a strange look upon her face, "Fayt?" she whispered in a croak. He nodded.

"You have to alert Cliff outside of Elicoor's orbit! I think Alistair wants to send Styx to Elicoor to destroy it! Send a message to gramps to relay to them, quick! I feel that Alistair is beginning to sense that something is amiss!"

"What! How are you certain?" she asked as the soldier regained control of his body, and fell to the floor.

She quickly opened her communicator and sent a coded message to the _Exige. _She quickly got a call back from Everett Leingod.

"How the hell am I supposed to relay a message in this shit mess?" he angrily cried as the ship was rocked by a blast.

"Just do it!" she hissed, "it is of utmost importance, we just encountered Alistair." Grandpa Leingod cursed again but closed the line.

Fayt returned to his body, not before experiencing his stomach twisting inside and out. He tried to contain snorting out loud but let it out, and forced Alistair to look at him funny.

"Oh god it t-tastes like coconut," he coughed and spluttered.

"Leingod! You aren't taking me seriously, I will kill her!" he cried as he inserted the blade half an inch deeper.

"DAMN IT Alistair, ok, ok, Sophia its not worth your life, o-open the portal."

"F-Fayt no? Are you sure? Wh-what about Elicoor?"

"Your well-being is much more important to us…" Fayt said weakly. He thought about the lives that could be lost if the message was not sent. The destruction of a planet even, all of that would be on him.

"Alright, I'll do it…" Sophia gave in. Alistair released the blade and laughed as she began to bleed out. He watched her until she grew pale in her face.

"Alistair you monster!" Fayt cried as he unsheathed his sword and began to charge him, but healed Sophia's wound right as she was about to pass out.

"I wouldn't kill a important piece of the puzzle Leingod. Not yet, open the portal now dearie," he crooned. Sophia looked at him disgusted but began to chant words which Fayt could not understand, at the last word she cast her hands upwards and then a green symbol began to trace itself out in the air above them. "Widen the spell, and project it into space, we have an entire planet to teleport," he said coolly.

Sophia nodded and pushed the symbol through the atmosphere until it was no longer visible. However they saw it again, growing larger, it was faint in the distance because it was in the planet's orbit now. It grew, and grew until it looked as large as the moon is visible from Earth. "And so it begins."

The time gate glowed yellow and then another portal formed. Fayt prepared to fight whatever was going to exit the gate but the ground underneath them suddenly split. The ledge the Time Gate was on split into three pieces, the rock his mother, Kai and Solenn were on shifted away from Fayt. The rock Alistair stood upon and still held Sophia shifted to his left. While the ground Maria and Fayt stood upon moved backwards, Fayt sliced into the ground with his sword to steady himself.

The Time Gate stood alone floating in the middle as 4D Security Guards, Executioners, and more black ops guards flooded from the gate.

"Damn, Captain, organize what ground troops we have, Mom…stay alive!" he yelled into his comm. He glanced at Maria and she nodded and assumed stances back to back as they were surrounded by the 4D troops. "Do you trust me?"

Maria closed her eyes then sighed, "I will have to, or it will spell our doom."

"Right then, Is that all you got?" he yelled taunting his enemies around him.

"Give up Leingod, there's no hope!" Alistair called.

Fayt grimaced, _We'll just have to see about that._ An Executioner lunged at him but parried his claw then blasted the body into the air as Maria jumped up and conjured ice spikes from her feet and sliced through its body with a sommersault in the air. She landed gracefully, still back to back with Fayt.

"I think I've missed the fighting a little bit Fayt," said Maria.

"You fools go to your deaths then," Alistair cried, "ATTACK!"

Fayt engaged another Executioner, sidestepped, charged his foot and then tore through the Executioner's midsection with a burst of Ethereal energy. "I just might have as well."

* * *

End


End file.
